BREAKING: Target Test Prep releases Brand New 2026 On Demand GMAT prep course

Redeem

S is a set of n consecutive positive integers. Is the mean

Expert replies
by BTGmoderatorDC » Sun Jun 23, 2019 9:07 pm

Timer

00:00

Answers

A

B

C

D

E

Stats

Difficulty

S is a set of n consecutive positive integers. Is the mean of the set a positive integer?

(1) the range of S is an even integer

(2) the median of S is a positive integer

OA D

Source: Magoosh
Join the discussion
Source: — Data Sufficiency |

by Ian Stewart » Thu Jun 27, 2019 7:21 am
A set of consecutive integers is equally spaced, so its mean and median are always equal. So Statement 2 is instantly sufficient.

The median will also be halfway between the smallest and largest values in the set, so if S is the smallest value, and R is the range, the median will be S + (R/2). If R is even, that's an integer, so Statement 1 is sufficient. Or you could notice that if we have an odd number of values in a set, the median is always in the set. If the range of a set of consecutive integers is even, then that set must contain an odd number of things, and the median must equal one of the integers in the set. So the answer is D.
For online GMAT math tutoring, or to buy my higher-level Quant books and problem sets, contact me at ianstewartgmat at gmail.com

ianstewartgmat.com
Join the discussion