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Susie can buy apples from two stores: a supermarket that sells apples only in bundles of 4, and a convenience store that sells single, unbundled apples. If Susie wants to ensure that the total number of apples she buys is a multiple of 5, what is the minimum number of apples she must buy from the convenience store?
Susie can buy apples from two stores: a supermarket that sells apples only in bundles of 4, and a convenience store that sells single, unbundled apples. If Susie wants to ensure that the total number of apples she buys is a multiple of 5, what is the minimum number of apples she must buy from the convenience store?
A. 0 B. 1 C. 2 D. 3 E. 4
Strange question, cannot understand what is tested here. Wording is also confusing: "can buy from two stores"?
But in any case answer must be zero. If she buys apples ONLY in conv. store 0 is the multiple of 5. If she'll buy also in supermarket well any number can be BUT minimum is 0, she can buy 5 bundles there.
The official explanation is as follows (excepted):
"Since the supermarket sells apples in bundles of 4, we can represent the number of apples that Susie buys from the supermarket as 4x, where x can be any integer ≥ 0. If the number of apples that Susie buys from the convenience store is simply y, the total number of apples she buys is (4x + y). We are asked to find the smallest possible value of y such that (4x + y) can be a multiple of 5.
. . .
The correct answer is A."
My biggest problem is the wording of the question. The question asks for minimum number of applies she must buy to ENSURE that the total number at the end of the day is a multiple of 5. The explanation, however, speaks of the minimum number of applies that need to be bought at the convenience store so that she CAN end up with a multiple of five apples. CAN and ENSURE mean very different things, so I'm not sure why A is correct.
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My biggest problem is the wording of the question. The question asks for minimum number of applies she must buy to ENSURE that the total number at the end of the day is a multiple of 5. The explanation, however, speaks of the minimum number of applies that need to be bought at the convenience store so that she CAN end up with a multiple of five apples. CAN and ENSURE mean very different things, so I'm not sure why A is correct.
Look at it this way: I want to ensure that I have 3 chocolate bars. store A only sells 2 at a time so I need to buy 1 from store B so that I can end up with 3 chocolate bars. It just means that this is what I must do/need to do/must ensure so that I can make it a possibility. Don't worry too much about it. And it seems the question is simply testing whether you understand that 0 is the smallest non negative multiple of 5. If you buy 0 apples, you buy none from anywhere! It would have been different if it was given that she must buy some apples.
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I completely do not agree with MGMAT for this qtn/ans
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08 Feb 2011, 05:17
There were lods of dicussions on this qtn. I, however, request the ppl to discuss again. Please...
Susie can buy apples from two stores: a supermarket that sells apples only in bundles of 4, and a convenience store that sells single, unbundled apples. If Susie wants to ensure that the total number of apples she buys is a multiple of 5, what is the minimum number of apples she must buy from the convenience store?
A. 0 B. 1 C. 2 D. 3 E. 4
Forget abt the logic: mult of 5 and all that. Observe the word "must" in "what is the minimum number of apples she must buy from the convenience store". Doesn't it mean that she has to buy atleast 1 from the convenience store?
Re: I completely do not agree with MGMAT for this qtn/ans
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08 Feb 2011, 05:55
And so she did. She bought "0" apples from the convenience store.
Q: What's the minimum number must you add to "2" in order to get a prime number?
Few say the answer should be "1" to get 3(a prime). Must add something(> 0), right!!! Others(I am one among them) may argue that adding "0" would suffice as 2 itself is a prime number.
This question should be posted in the verbal section to see how to exactly interpret this without ambiguity.
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I am reallly doubt that his is a 700 level question . although I believe MGMAT.
list all multiples of 5 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 .... list all possible acquisitions in first supermarket multoples of 4: 4 8 12 16 20 There is a minimum difference of 0 (20-20=0) and the mazimum diffeence of 3 (15-12=3)
Thanks for the explanations... it is helpful to note that zero is still a number when talking about the smallest or minimalist, which is an important term that one must never just skim over.
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Re: Susie can buy apples from two stores: a supermarket that
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17 Apr 2012, 06:27
1
I agree with bunuel , language is confusion but then in either way answer would be 0. I tried it both ways then forgot that language was confusion because answer is same
Re: Susie can buy apples from two stores: a supermarket that
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03 Nov 2012, 21:57
sanjoo wrote:
I knw question is asking minimum so its 0..
But just asking is 1 not a multiplt of 5? as i heard that 1 is multiple of every number?
No. 0 is multiple of every integer. 1 is not. e.g. 1 is not a multiple of 5. Can you multiply 5 by another integer to get 1? No. 1 is a factor/divisor of every integer i.e. every integer is divisible by 1.
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Re: Susie can buy apples from two stores: a supermarket that
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01 Dec 2012, 20:33
1
To answer this question, think of the lowest number possible then move forward.
If I buy 0 from the convenient store, I will have to buy 5 bundles of 4 from the supermarket. If I buy 1 fromt he convenient store, I will have to buy 1 bundle of 4 from the supermarket.
Since the question is the minimum number, we go with 0.
Re: Susie can buy apples from two stores: a supermarket that
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03 May 2016, 19:29
i dont agree with any of the explanations above, verbiage is crooked but it says she MUST( stress on must- if it says she can then the answer would be 0) buy from the store that means atleast 1 she needs to buy apple.
Re: Susie can buy apples from two stores: a supermarket that
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01 Mar 2018, 02:43
I also found the wording of the question very confusing! But in the end I realized that the question is assessing if you know that 0 is a multiple of every number so I picked A
Re: Susie can buy apples from two stores: a supermarket that
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02 Mar 2018, 10:40
Quote:
Susie can buy apples from two stores: a supermarket that sells apples only in bundles of 4, and a convenience store that sells single, unbundled apples. If Susie wants to ensure that the total number of apples she buys is a multiple of 5, what is the minimum number of apples she must buy from the convenience store?
A. 0 B. 1 C. 2 D. 3 E. 4
The key to solving this problem is to focus on the word minimum. If Susie were to buy 5 bags of apples at the grocery store she would have a total of 20 apples. In that case she wouldn’t need to purchase any apples from the convenience store. Thus, 0 is the minimum number of apples she must buy from the convenience store.
Answer: A
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58% (01:04) correct 
