Not sure best way to solve

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Not sure best way to solve

by avada » Sat Sep 22, 2012 7:48 pm
This is from the OG Quant review
When positive integer N is divided by 5, the remainder is 1. When N is divided by 7 the remainder is 3. What is the smallest positive integer K such that K+N is a multiple of 35?
a.3
b.4
c.12
d.32
e.35

OG b
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by Brent@GMATPrepNow » Sat Sep 22, 2012 9:31 pm
avada wrote:This is from the OG Quant review
When positive integer N is divided by 5, the remainder is 1. When N is divided by 7 the remainder is 3. What is the smallest positive integer K such that K+N is a multiple of 35?
a.3
b.4
c.12
d.32
e.35

OG b
Here's one approach:

There's a nice rule that says, If, when N is divided by D, the remainder is R, then the possible values of N include: R, R+D, R+2D, R+3D,. . .

First we're told that when N is divided by 5, the remainder is 1.
So, possible values of N are 1, 6, 11, 16, 21, 26, 31, 36, 41, 46, 51, 56, 61, 66, 71, 76, etc.

Next we're told that when N is divided by 7, the remainder is 3.
So, possible values of N are 3, 10, 17, 24, 31, 38, 45, 52, 59, 66, 73, etc.

So, we can see that N could equal 31, or 66, or an infinite number of other values.

Important: Since the Least Common Multiple of 7 and 5 is 35, we can conclude that if we list the possible values of N, each value will be 35 greater than the last value.

So, N could equal 31, 66, 101, 136, and so on.

Notice that, if we take any of these values, we need to add 4 to it so that the sum will be a multiple of 35. So, the smallest value of K is 4 such that K+N is a multiple of 35.

Answer = B

Cheers,
Brent
Brent Hanneson - Creator of GMATPrepNow.com
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