soni_pallavi wrote:If a^2*b^2*c^3 = 4500. Is b+c =7
1)a b c are positive integers
2)a>b
Target question:
Does b+c = 7?
Given: a^2*b^2*c^3 = 4500
Find the prime factorization of 4500
4500 = (2^2)(3^2)(5^3)
Statement 1: a, b, and c are positive integers
There are different sets of numbers that meet this condition. Here are two:
Case a: a = 3, b = 2 and c = 5, in which case
b+c equals 7
Case b: a = 6, b = 1 and c = 5, in which case
b+c does not equal 7
Since we cannot answer the
target question with certainty, statement 1 is NOT SUFFICIENT
Statement 2: a>b
There are different sets of numbers that meet this condition. Here are two:
Case a: a = 3, b = 2 and c = 5, in which case
b+c equals 7
Case b: a = 6, b = 1 and c = 5, in which case
b+c does not equal 7
Since we cannot answer the
target question with certainty, statement 2 is NOT SUFFICIENT
Statements 1 and 2 combined:
Notice that I used the same sets of numbers to show that each individual statement (alone) is not sufficient. This means that we can automatically see that the two statements combined are not sufficient, since we still have two conflicting cases to consider:
Case a: a = 3, b = 2 and c = 5, in which case
b+c equals 7
Case b: a = 6, b = 1 and c = 5, in which case
b+c does not equal 7
Since we still cannot answer the
target question with certainty, the combined statements are NOT SUFFICIENT
Answer =
E
Cheers,
Brent
