GMAT Question of the Day – 8/1/2021

QUESTION

Are the integers a, b, and c consecutive even integers?

STATEMENT 1:

a + 4 = c

STATEMENT 2:

a < b < c

ANSWER SELECTION

(A) Statement (1) BY ITSELF is sufficient to answer the question, but statement (2) by itself is not.

(B) Statement (2) BY ITSELF is sufficient to answer the question, but statement (1) by itself is not.

(C) Statements (1) and (2) TAKEN TOGETHER are sufficient to answer the question, even though NEITHER statement BY ITSELF is sufficient.

(D) EITHER statement BY ITSELF is sufficient to answer the question.

(E) Statements (1) and (2) TAKEN TOGETHER are NOT sufficient to answer the question, requiring more data pertaining to the problem. (THIS IS CORRECT!)

ANSWER EXPLANATION

CORRECT ANSWER IS E.

Statement (1): insufficient. This tells us the relationship between a and c, but it tells us nothing about b. Also, it does not let us determine whether a and c are even or odd. Eliminate (A) and (D).

Statement (2): insufficient. The inequality a < b < c does not allow us to determine the differences between the integers. It is possible that a = 2, b = 4, and c = 6; but it is also possible that a = 3, b = 16, and c = 42. Eliminate (B).

Statements (1) and (2): insufficient. We still can’t determine whether or not the integers are even, let alone whether they are consecutive even integers. We could have a = 2, b = 4, and c = 6; but we could just as easily have a = 7, b = 8, and c = 11. The correct answer is choice (E).

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