Hi All,
Please help. Don't know how answer is E.
Which of the following CANNOT be the greatest common divisor of two positive integers x and y ?
(A) 1
(B) x
(C) y
(D) x - y
(E) x + Y
Thanks & Regards
Sachin
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- sachin_yadav
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this can be easily understood as:
1.take any two prime nos. say 2, 3
then G.C.D - 1
2. take x=2;y=6
G.C.D.- 2=x
3.similarly G.C.D y
4.take x=6;y=4
G.C.D.=2(x-y)
so,G.C.D. can't be x+y
or likewise you can understand as G.C.D. is the highest COMMON factors b/w two nos. so their sum can't be so
1.take any two prime nos. say 2, 3
then G.C.D - 1
2. take x=2;y=6
G.C.D.- 2=x
3.similarly G.C.D y
4.take x=6;y=4
G.C.D.=2(x-y)
so,G.C.D. can't be x+y
or likewise you can understand as G.C.D. is the highest COMMON factors b/w two nos. so their sum can't be so
- Stuart@KaplanGMAT
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The only information we have about x and y is that they're positive integers, so there will be very few conclusions we can draw about their greatest common factor.sachin_yadav wrote:Hi All,
Please help. Don't know how answer is E.
Which of the following CANNOT be the greatest common divisor of two positive integers x and y ?
(A) 1
(B) x
(C) y
(D) x - y
(E) x + Y
Thanks & Regards
Sachin
However, here's one thing we do know: the greatest common factor of any positive integer is the integer itself.
Accordingly, there's no way that (x+y), which is greater than each of x and y, could be the greatest common factor of x and y.
Stuart Kovinsky | Kaplan GMAT Faculty | Toronto
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- sachin_yadav
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