Bunuel
If w, x, y and z are integers such that 1 < w ≤ x ≤ y ≤ z and wxyz = 924, then how many possible values exist for z?
(A) Three
(B) Four
(C) Five
(D) Six
(E) Seven
We can break 924 into prime factors:
924 = 3 x 308 = 3 x 4 x 77 = 3 x 2 x 2 x 11 x 7
We see that 924 is a product of 5 (not necessarily distinct) prime factors. If we want to express 924 as a product of 4 factors (each of which is greater than 1), one of the factors must be the product of two of 5 prime factors. Since 1 < w ≤ x ≤ y ≤ z, we can express 924 as:
xwyz = 3 x (2 x 2) x 7 x 11 = 3 x 4 x 7 x 11
We can see that in the case above, z = 11. Instead of listing other ways we can write the product xwyz, let’s just focus on the number of ways we can make z > 11. We can see that z must now be the product of exactly two of the 5 prime factors, so z could be:
2 x 7 = 14, 2 x 11 = 22, 3 x 7 = 21, 3 x 11 = 33, or 7 x 11 = 77
Thus, z could be any one the following 6 numbers: 11, 14, 21, 22, 33, or 77.
Answer: D
Seems like 11*4=44 is missing here, which makes the possibilty 7.