Bunuel
Set A consists of nine consecutive even integers and set B consists of six consecutive even integers. If the sum of the elements of set A is equal to the sum of the elements of set B, what is the value of the median of set A ?
(1) All elements of set B are also in set A.
(2) The median of set B is a prime number.
Set A: 9 consecutive even integers, Set B: 6 consecutive even integers.
We need to find median (5th term of ascending order) of Set A
Sum(Set A) = Sum(Set B). Now if one set contains 6 numbers and another one 9 and both contain consecutive even integers,
their sum can only be equal if the sum of the additional 3 elements in Set A equal to 0, which implies that there are negative even integers involved as well
Consecutive even integers, some negative terms and sum of additional 3 terms of Set A equals 0. Taking all these constraints into consideration, we can only come up with 2 cases
Case 1: B = {-2,0,2,4,6,8}, A = {-6,-4,-2,0,2,4,6,8,10}, Sum = 18 (for both) [We added -6,-4 and 10 as the three additional elements, thereby maintaining all constraints]
Case 2: B = {-8,-6,-4,-2,0,2}, A = {-10,-8,-6,-4,-2,0,2,4,6}, Sum = -18 (for both) [We added 6,4 and -10 as the three additional elements, thereby maintaining all constraints]
Now let us look at the statements:
(1) All elements of set B are also in set A.Yes, both possible cases above attest to this. In one, median = 2, and in the other, median = -2.
NOT SUFFICIENT(2) The median of set B is a prime number.Now, here its mentioned that median of Set B is a prime number. Let us check both possible cases:
Case 1: Median B = 3, which is a prime number
Case 2: Median B = -3, which is not a prime number
So only Case 1 suffices in this. Which means that median A = 2.
SUFFICIENTAnswer - B