Bunuel
How many positive integers are there from 0 to 1000 that leave a remainder of 3 on division by 7 and a remainder of 2 on division by 4?
A. 19
B. 20
C. 24
D. 32
E. 36
Solution:
Let x be such a number. Since x leaves a remainder of 3 on division by 7, x can be expressed as x = 7k + 3 where k is some positive integer. Similarly, since x leaves a remainder of 2 on division by 4, x can also be expressed as x = 4s + 2 where s is some positive integer.
Notice that x + 18 = 7k + 21 = 4s + 20 is divisible by both 7 and 4; therefore, x + 18 is divisible by LCM(7, 4) = 28. Since the smallest value of x + 18 is 28, the smallest value of x is 10.
Now that we know the smallest value of x, we can find all values of x simply by adding LCM(7, 4) to 10, so x can be any of the values 10, 38, 66, etc.
To find the greatest value of x, let’s divide 1000 - 10 = 990 by 28, obtaining 990/28 = 35 (ignore the remainder). Thus, the greatest value of x is 28 * 35 + 10 = 990.
Now, we simply need to find the number of terms in the arithmetic sequence 10, 38, 66, … , 990; which is given by (990 - 10)/28 + 1 = 35 + 1 = 36.
Answer: E