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= 21+ 7- 2*sqrt21* sqrt 7
=28 - 2* sqrt(3*7*7)
=28 - 2* 7*sqrt3
=28 - 14*sqrt3
=28 - (14* 1.73)
=28- 24.24 = 3.76 ~ 4
So answer is A
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Bunuel
Which of the following is closest to the value of \((\sqrt{21}-\sqrt{7})^2\)?

A. 4
B. 5
C. 7
D. 16
E. 196

Of course GMAT won't require to know square roots of anything more than 5 apart from perfect squares

\((\sqrt{21}-\sqrt{7})^2=√21^2+√7^2-2*√21*√7=21+7-2*√3*√7*√7=28-14√3=28-14*1.73=14(2-1.73)=14*0.27\)
So slightly less than 14*0.3=4.2
So closest is 4

A
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Bunuel
Which of the following is closest to the value of \((\sqrt{21}-\sqrt{7})^2\)?

A. 4
B. 5
C. 7
D. 16
E. 196

Foiling we have:

(√21)^2 + (√7)^2 - 2(√21)(√7) = 21 + 7 - 2√147

Since √147 is a little more than 12, we have:

21 + 7 - 2(12) = 28 - 24 = 4

Alternate Solution:

We can use approximation to solve this problem quickly. We see that √21 is close to 5, and √7 is close to 3. Therefore (5 - 3)^2 = 4.

Alternate Solution:

We note that √21 = √(7*3) = (√7)*(√3). Then,

(√21 - √7)^2 = (√7*√3 - √7)^2 = [(√7)^2][√3 - 1]^2 = 7*(√3 - 1)^2

We note that √3 is approximately 1.7; thus we can approximate as

(√21 - √7)^2 ≈ 7 * (1.7 - 1)^2

(√21 - √7)^2 ≈ 7 * (0.7)^2

(√21 - √7)^2 ≈ 7 * (0.49) = 3.43

The closest value among the choices is A.

Answer: A
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Here's the calculation if you estimate square roots:

(√3*√7 - √7)² = (1.7*2.65 - 2.65)² ...estimate 2.65 to 3 here... (3*[1.7 - 1])² = (3*.7)² = 2.1² ≈ 4, A
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