This question appeared on my Mock test and although I got it right during the test, I relied on guesswork for some of the options. During review I found a time-efficient and logical way to solve this question.
Since Bartholomew is picking a factorial greater than 2, he will start with 3! and since he has to pick a value less than 15, he will end at 14!.
So our number becomes x! + 12 where 3<=x<=14
One value that must be a factor is easier so let's get that sorted first. Right from 3! + 12 to 14! + 12, we can take out 6 common from all terms.
3! + 12 => 6(1+2)
4! + 12 => 6(4+2)
...
14! + 12 => 6(4*5*6..*14+2)
So no matter what the value, 6 will always be a factor. Hence,
6 MUST be a factor. Now to figure out a value that must
NOT be a factor, first let's eliminate some answer choices which
can be a factor.
I know right off the bat that just like 6, we can have 4! + 12 where we can take 4 common => 4! + 12 => 4(3!+3)
Since 4
can be a factor, it cannot
NOT be a factor. Eliminate 4.
Similarly, for 12! + 12, we can take 12 common so 12 can also be a factor. Eliminate 12.
We're now left with 9, 15 and 36. At this point, I'll need to start looking at some values.
let's take some examples and add 12 to them.
3! + 12 => 18
4! + 12 => 36
You can go further, but we can see that 3! + 12 is divisible by 9 and 4! + 12 is divisible by 36 so we can eliminate both 9 and 36 as both of them can be a factor.
The only remaining number is 15.
Hence 15 cannot be a factor. Factor: 6, Not Factor: 15