Bunuel
Mary chose an even 4-digit number n. She wrote down all the divisors of n in increasing order from left to right: 1, 2, ..., n/2, n. At some moment Mary wrote 323 as a divisor of n. What is the smallest possible value of the next divisor of n written to the right of 323?
(A) 324
(B) 330
(C) 340
(D) 361
(E) 646
Are You Up For the Challenge: 700 Level Questions
The first challenge here is to split 323 into its factors. We know that 18^2 =324 so we must check for all prime factors till 18. We see that
323 = 17*19
This means that n has at least 17, 19 as factors.
Method 1: LogicThe next factor needs to have some common factor with 323 because if it had no common factors then n would have all factors of 323 and this next factor (say 324) and so n would have more than 4 digits (because 323*324 has more than 4 digits).
So the next smallest factor greater than 323 must be 17*20 =340.
Note that 18*19 = 342 which is greater than 340.
Method 2: Use OptionsIf the next factor to the right of 323 were \(324 = 2^2 * 3^4\)
Then n would have at least 2^2*3^4 as other prime factors with these exponents.
But 323*324 has more than 4 digits so this is not possible.
If the next factor to the right of 323 were \(330 = 2 * 3 * 5 * 11\)
Then n would have at least 2*3*5*11 as other prime factors with these exponents.
But 323*330 has more than 4 digits so this is not possible.
If the next factor to the right of 323 were \(340 = 2^2 * 5 * 17\)
Then n would have at least 2^2*5 as other prime factors with these exponents.
323*20 has 4 digits so this is possible. Since it is the smallest of the options which is possible, this is the answer.
Answer (C)