Roots

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Roots

by Deepthi Subbu » Sat Mar 16, 2013 8:01 am
If z is a positive integer, is z^1/2 an integer?

(1) xz^1/2 is an integer.
(2) x = z^3

Taken together, the statements are still insu¢ cient. Since (2) gives you x
in terms of z, you can plug that into (1):
((z^3)(z))^1/2 = integer (z^4)^1/2 = integer
z^2 = integer
Knowing that z^2 is an integer is not enough to answer the question: we want
to know whether z itself is a perfect square. As is, z neednÂ’t even be an integer,
let alone a perfect square: it could be 2^1/2. It could be an integer, but for Data
Sufficiency, "could" isnÂ’t good enough.

My doubt is in the question it been mentioned that z is an integer, but this is being contradicted when both statements are taken together.

Where am I going wrong?
Source: — Data Sufficiency |

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by aaggar7 » Sat Mar 16, 2013 8:22 am
My take would be E
Using both equations it can be seen that z^2 is integer and question states that z is + integer,but these two are not sufficient.

for eg let z=2,z^1/2 not an integer
and if z = 4,z^1/2 = 2 is an integer

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by neha24 » Sat Mar 16, 2013 8:36 am
i am not sure what u asking !!
but the answer i feel is E
the final step of urs that Z^2 =int is not sufficient to decide if z^1/2 is an int
logic is simple Z^2 =1 -----> z^1/2 is an int
and Z^2 = 9 ---->z^1/2 is not an int

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by Anju@Gurome » Sat Mar 16, 2013 8:43 am
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by GMATGuruNY » Sat Mar 16, 2013 8:58 am
Deepthi Subbu wrote:If z is a positive integer, is √z an integer?

(1) √(xz) is an integer.
(2) x = z³
Question rephrased: If z is an integer, is z a perfect square?

Both statements are satisfied if z=1 and x=1³=1, in which case z is a perfect square.
Both statements are satisfied if z=2 and x=2³=8, in which case z is not a perfect square.

Thus, the two statements combined are INSUFFICIENT.

The correct answer is E.

Algebraically:
Substituting x=z³ into statement statement 1, we get:
√(z³z) = integer
√(z^4) = integer
z² = integer.
ANY POSITIVE INTEGER will satisfy this equation:
1² = integer.
2² = integer.
3² = integer.
And so on.
Thus, it's possible that z is a perfect square or that z is not a perfect square.

Please note the following:
When the statements are combined, non-integer values such as z=√2 satisfy the condition that z² = integer.
But these non-integer values do NOT satisfy the constraint given in the question stem: z is a positive integer.
Because of this constraint in the question stem, ONLY POSITIVE INTEGER VALUES for z can be considered when we evaluate the two statements.
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