Language of a simple problem

[melguy]

Hello All

I am reviewing my notes and came across this one.

If the product of the three digits of a three digit positive integer N is 8. What is N?

1) The hundreds digit of N is even

2,2,2
8,1,1
Not sufficient

2) The tens digit of N and the units digit of N are the same.

8,1,1
2,2,2 (can this be considered considering we are specifically told that only the units and the tens digit match. That should mean hundreds must not match).

As per O.A 2,2,2 is a fair game.

What is the GMAT preferred rule on debatable questions like this one? Please help.

[Brent@GMATPrepNow]

I think the wording "The tens digit of N and the units digit of N are the same" does not imply that the hundreds digit must be different. If the test-makers wanted to rule that out, they could have written something like "The tens digit and the units digit are the same, but the hundreds digit is different"

On a slightly different note, the GMAT test-makers often use the word "exactly" to rule out certain possibilities. So, perhaps they might somehow throw that word in somewhere.

BTW, for those of you who tried answering the question, the correct answer is [spoiler]E, since 811 and 222 both satisfy the two statements combined)[/spoiler]

Cheers,
Brent