Divisibility and prime (OG question)

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Divisibility and prime (OG question)

by mdavidm_531 » Tue May 08, 2012 10:09 pm
A school administrator will assign each student in a group of n students to one of m classrooms. If 3 < m < 13 < n, is it possible to assign each of the n students to one of the m classrooms so that each classroom has the same number of students assigned to it?

(1) It is possible to assign each of 3n students to one of m classrooms so that each classroom has the same number of students assigned to it.

(2) It is possible to assign each of 13n students to one of m classrooms so that each classroom has the same number of students assigned to it.

At first I didn't know how to attack but let's see:

3 < m < 13 means that (1) m is integer (since there's no such thing as half a classroom) (2) m could take the values 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12

13 < n means that (1) n is an integer (same reason as above) (2) n could take the values 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19 and so forth

Now, here I get stuck

(1) It is possible to assign each of 3n students to one of m classrooms
So, say n = 14, 3n = 42 -> we could assign 42 students in of the m classrooms (and then? I don't know what to do with this data)

(2) It is possible to assign each of 13n students to one of m classrooms
I don't know what to do with this.

Please help.
Source: — Data Sufficiency |

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by aneesh.kg » Tue May 08, 2012 10:35 pm
Hi,
This is one of the good OG problems. So, it's okay to get stuck somewhere while solving it.

The question is whether it is possible to assign each of the n students to one of the m classrooms so that each classroom has the same number of students, or
Is n a multiple of m?
or
Is n/m = Integer?

All we need is to answer this with a YES or a NO.

Statement (1):
Given: 3n/m = Integer(we have to make sure this holds true for whatever values we plug-in next)
If m = 4, n = 16, 20,.. (n/m is an integer) so, YES!
If m = 5, n = 15, 20,.. (n/m is an integer) so, YES!
But
If m = 6, 3n/m = 3n/6 = Integer => or n/2 = Integer => n is a multiple of 2 => n = 14, 16, 18..
=> n/m MAY NOT be an integer.
PROBLEM!

INSUFFICIENT

Statement (2):
Given: 13n/m = Integer(we have to make sure this holds true for whatever values we plug-in next)
If m = 4, n has to be a multiple of 4. so, YES!
If m = 5, n has to be a multiple of 5. so, YES!
Infact, since m < 13, there is no factor of m (other than 1) that cancels of with 13. so, it's always a YES!
SUFFICIENT

[spoiler](B)[/spoiler] is the answer
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by Anurag@Gurome » Wed May 09, 2012 4:56 pm
The question can be rephrased as "If 3 < m < 13 < n, is n/m an integer?"

(1) The information in statement 1 implies that 3n/m is an integer. Now we have find whether n/m is an integer.
Given that 3 < m < 13 < n, if n = 36 and m = 6, then n/m is an integer.
On the other hand if n = 40 and m = 6, then n/m is not an integer.
Since we don't get a unique answer, so (1) is NOT SUFFICIENT.

(2) According to the statement, 13n/m is an integer.
3 < m < 13 < n implies that m lies between 3 and 13 but is not 13, so 13n/m can be integer only if n/m is an integer.
So, (2) is SUFFICIENT.

The correct answer is B.
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