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# I found it quite interesting and they said this is one of

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Manager
Joined: 01 Jun 2006
Posts: 139
I found it quite interesting and they said this is one of [#permalink]

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05 Jun 2006, 02:07
This topic is locked. If you want to discuss this question please re-post it in the respective forum.

I found it quite interesting and they said this is one of the most difficult questions in Gmat. Be careful
Sequence S consists of 24 non-zero intergers. From the third one, every term of S is the product of the previous 2 terms. How many terms in S are negative?
(1) The third term in S is Positive
(2) The fourth term in S is negative
Good luck!!!
Intern
Joined: 04 May 2006
Posts: 49

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05 Jun 2006, 04:31
B it is.
(1) The third term in S is Positive
it gives two possible sequesnces: -
(+ve, +ve ,+ve .............+ve) or (-ve, -ve, +ve, -ve, -ve, +ve........)
so we can't count the number of -ve integers.

(2) The fourth term in S is negative
It gives the following sequences: -
(-ve, +ve, -ve, -ve, +ve, -ve, -ve, +ve, -ve, ......so on)
or
(-ve, -ve, +ve, -ve, -ve, +ve, -ve, -ve, +ve, ......so on)

If you see, in both the above series a pattern is repeated after 3 numbers, i.e. 2 negative and 1 positive numbers. So there are 16 -ve numbers in the series.
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If A equals success, then the formula is: A = X + Y + Z, X is work. Y is play. Z is keep your mouth shut.
Albert Einstein

Manager
Joined: 29 Sep 2005
Posts: 125

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05 Jun 2006, 05:06
Can someone pls explain how they got B? I did not get the explanations above.

Here is the approach I took:

let the seq be:

n1, n2, n3, n4, n5......

n3 = n1*n2
n4= n1*n2*n2

From St. 2

The fourth term is -ve,

Which means n1 is -ve and n2^2 is +ve. However we still do not know what sign n2 is.

If you take both statements together it works.

Am I missing something here?
Intern
Joined: 04 May 2006
Posts: 49

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05 Jun 2006, 05:15
Quote:
n4= n1*n2*n2

It says every term is the product of previous two terms

so, n4 = n3 * n2, n5 = n4 * n3 and so on.
_________________

If A equals success, then the formula is: A = X + Y + Z, X is work. Y is play. Z is keep your mouth shut.
Albert Einstein

Manager
Joined: 29 Sep 2005
Posts: 125

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05 Jun 2006, 05:34
mendiratta_1812 wrote:
Quote:
n4= n1*n2*n2

It says every term is the product of previous two terms

so, n4 = n3 * n2, n5 = n4 * n3 and so on.

I am so sorry unfortunately I still don't get it. With my test 2 weeks away this is not good.

I agree n4 = n3*n2
but n3 = n1*n2
so n4 = n1*n2*n2---n2*n2 will be +ve

I guess what I don't get is how do we ascertain whether n2 is +ve or -ve?
Director
Joined: 16 Aug 2005
Posts: 938
Location: France

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05 Jun 2006, 06:20
With A:

sequence can be {-,-,+,-...} or {+,+,+,...}

With B:

sequence can be {-,+,-,-,+,-,-,+,...} or {-,-,+,-,-,+...}
from here, we can calculate # of -ves

Hence B
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Manager
Joined: 19 Apr 2006
Posts: 231

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05 Jun 2006, 18:29
agree with B

mendiratta_1812,
thanks for the warning
Director
Joined: 13 Nov 2003
Posts: 789
Location: BULGARIA

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06 Jun 2006, 03:57
But what about the first term, can it be determined if it is + or -. The stem says that each term after the third is the product
thanks
Manager
Joined: 01 Jun 2006
Posts: 139

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06 Jun 2006, 20:19
"(2) The fourth term in S is negative
It gives the following sequences: -
(-ve, +ve, -ve, -ve, +ve, -ve, -ve, +ve, -ve, ......so on)
or
(-ve, -ve, +ve, -ve, -ve, +ve, -ve, -ve, +ve, ......so on) "
I think this is an excellent answer. Because of the repetition of every 3 terms with 2negative and 1 positive so we can get the answer from (2). And the OA is obviously B.
06 Jun 2006, 20:19
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