PSAT Math : Arithmetic

Study concepts, example questions & explanations for PSAT Math

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Example Questions

Example Question #3 : Even / Odd Numbers

, and  are positive integers. 

 is odd.

Which of the following is possible?

I) Exactly two of  are odd.

II) Exactly three of  are odd.

III) All four of  are odd.

Possible Answers:

II and III only

None of I, II, or III

I and III only

I, II, and III

I and II only

Correct answer:

I, II, and III

Explanation:

If exactly two of  are odd, then exactly one of the seven expressions being added is odd - namely, the only one that does not have an even factor (for example, if  and  are odd, then the only odd number is ). This makes  the sum of one odd number and six even number and, subsequently, odd.

 

If exactly three of  are odd, then exactly three of the seven expressions being added are odd - namely, the three that do not include the even factor (for example, if , and  are odd, then the three odd numbers are , , and ). This makes  the sum of three odd numbers and four even numbers and, subsequently, odd.

 

If all four of  are odd, then all of the seven expressions being added, being the product of only odd numbers, are odd. This makes  the sum of seven odd numbers, and, subsequently, odd.

The correct choice is that all three scenarios are possible.

Example Question #1 : Integers

Solve:  

Possible Answers:

Correct answer:

Explanation:

Add the ones digits:

Since there is no tens digit to carry over, proceed to add the tens digits:

The answer is .

Example Question #1 : Integers

At a certain high school, everyone must take either Latin or Greek. There are  more students taking Latin than there are students taking Greek. If there are  students taking Greek, how many total students are there?

Possible Answers:

Correct answer:

Explanation:

If there are  students taking Greek, then there are  or  students taking Latin. However, the question asks how many total students there are in the school, so you must add these two values together to get:

 or  total students.

Example Question #251 : Arithmetic

odd * odd * odd =

Possible Answers:

even * even

even * odd

odd * odd * even

even * even * even

odd * odd

Correct answer:

odd * odd

Explanation:

The even/odd number properties are good to know. If you forget them, however, it's easy to check with an example. 

Odd * odd = odd. If you didn't remember that, a check such as 1 * 3 = 3 will give you the same answer. So if odd * odd = odd, (odd * odd) * odd = odd * odd = odd, just as 3 * 3 * 3 = 27, which is odd. This means we are looking for an answer choice that also produces an odd number. Let's go through them.

even * even = even (2 * 2 = 4)

even * odd = even (2 * 3 = 6)

odd * odd = odd (1 * 3 = 3) This is the correct answer! But just to double check, let's go through the last two.

even * even * even = even * even = even (2 * 2 * 2 = 8)

odd * odd * even = odd * even = even (1 * 3 * 2 = 6)

Example Question #1 : Even / Odd Numbers

When 8 integers are multiplied their product is negative, then at most how many of the integers can be negative?

Possible Answers:

7

4

5

1

8

Correct answer:

7

Explanation:

When one multiplies two negative numbers (or any even multiple) the result is a positive number. However, when one multiplies three negative numbers (or any odd multiple) the product is negative. If the result of multiplying 8 negatives is odd, the largest number of negative integers will be the largest odd number, in this case 7.

Example Question #1 : How To Multiply Odd Numbers

If  is an odd integer, all of the following must be odd integers EXCEPT:

Possible Answers:

Correct answer:

Explanation:

Let's examine the choice . We can rewrite  as , which would be multiplying an odd number (because  is odd) by an odd number. Multiplying two odd numbers always produces another odd number. So this can't be the correct answer.

Next, let's look at . We can rewrite this as . We already established that  must be odd, so then  must also be odd. If we then add  to an odd number, we still get an odd number. So we can eliminate this choice as well.

Now, let's look at the choice . Let's factor this as . We know that n must be odd, and we know that  must be odd. Therefore,  is odd, because multiplying two odd numbers gives us an odd number.

Finally, let's analyze . We can rewrite this as . Since n is odd,  must be an even number. When we multiply an even number by an even number, we get an even number, so  must be even, and it cannot be odd. 

The answer is .

Example Question #1 : How To Multiply Odd Numbers

If n and m are both positive even integers, which of the following must be odd?

I. (n + 1)(m + 1)

II. nm + 1

III. nm + m

Possible Answers:

II and III only

I only

I, II, and III

I and II only

II only

Correct answer:

I and II only

Explanation:

Let us analyze I, II, and III one at a time.

Because n and m are both even, if we increase either by 1, the result will be an odd number. Thus, n + 1 and m + 1 are both odd. When two odd numbers are multiplied together, the result is always an odd number. Thus (n + 1)(m + 1) must be an odd number.

Because n and m are even, when we multiply two even numbers together, we always get an even number. Thus nm is even. However, when we then add one to an even number, the result will be an odd number. Thus, nm + 1 is odd.

We just established that nm is even. If we subtract an even number from an even number, the result is always even. Thus, nm – m is an even number.

Only choice I and II will always produce odd numbers.

The answer is I and II only.

Example Question #1 : Even / Odd Numbers

odd * odd * odd = 

Possible Answers:

odd * odd * even

even * even * even

even * odd

even * even

odd * odd

Correct answer:

odd * odd

Explanation:

The even/odd number properties are good to know. If you forget them, however, it's easy to check with an example. 

Odd * odd = odd. If you didn't remember that, a check such as 1 * 3 = 3 will give you the same answer. So if odd * odd = odd, (odd * odd) * odd = odd * odd = odd, just as 3 * 3 * 3 = 27, which is odd. This means we are looking for an answer choice that also produces an odd number. Let's go through them.

even * even = even (2 * 2 = 4)

even * odd = even (2 * 3 = 6)

odd * odd = odd (1 * 3 = 3) This is the correct answer! But just to double check, let's go through the last two.

even * even * even = even * even = even (2 * 2 * 2 = 8)

odd * odd * even = odd * even = even (1 * 3 * 2 = 6)

Example Question #651 : Arithmetic

When 2013^{2013} is evaluated, what number is in the ones digit?

Possible Answers:

\dpi{100} 3

\dpi{100} 7

\dpi{100} 1

\dpi{100} 5

\dpi{100} 9

Correct answer:

\dpi{100} 3

Explanation:

Let us say we have two numbers, dpi{100} x and dpi{100} y whose ones digits are dpi{100} A and B, respectively. If we want to know the ones digits of the product of dpi{100} x and dpi{100} y, all we need to do is to look at the ones digit of the product of dpi{100} A and dpi{100} B. For example, if we multiply 137 and 219, then the ones digit will be the same as the ones digit of dpi{100} 7	imes 9=63. Since the ones digit of 63 is 3, the ones digit of 137 x 219 will also be 3. In short, we really only need to worry about the ones digits of the numbers we multiply when we try to find the ones digit of their product.

We want to find the ones digit of 2013^{2013}. An exponent is essentially just a short hand for repeated multiplication. Let us look at the ones digit of the first few exponents of 2013.

 2013^1 = 2013  - the ones digit is 3.

To find the ones digit of the 2013 to the second power, we need to think of it as the product of 2013 and 2013. As discussed previously, if we want the ones digit of two numbers multiplied together, we just need to multiply their ones digits. Thus, if we multiply 2013 by 2013, then the ones digit will be the same as dpi{100} 3	imes 3=9.

2013^2 = 2013 cdot 2013  - ones digit is 9.

Next, we want to find the ones digit of 2013 to the third power. In order to do this, we will multiply the square of 2013 by 2013. It does not matter that we do not know exactly what 2013 squared equals, beacuse we only need to worry about the ones digit, which is 9. In other words, 2013 to the third power will have a ones digit that is equal to the ones digit of the product of 9 (which was the ones digit of 2013 squared) and 3 (which is the ones digit of 2013). When we multiply 9 and 3, we get 27, so the ones digit of 2013 to the third power is 7.

2013^3 = 2013^2 cdot 2013  - ones digit of 7.

To find the ones digit of 2013 to the fourth power, we only need to worry about multiplying the ones digit of 2013 to the third power (which is 7) by the ones digit of 2013. When we mulitply 7 and 3, we get 21, which means that the ones digit of 2013 to the fourth power is 1.

2013^4 = 2013^3 cdot 2013  - ones digit of 1.

To find the ones digit of 2013 to the fifth power, we will multiply 1 by 3, which gives us 3.

2013^5 = 2013^4 cdot 2013  - ones digit of 3.

Notice that we are back to a ones digit with 3. If we multiply this by 2013, we will end up with a ones digit of 9. In other words, the ones digits repeat every fourth power.

The value of the ones digits of the powers of 2013 is as follows (starting with 2013 to the first power):

3, 9, 7, 1, 3, 9, 7, 1,....

We essentially want to find the 2013th term of the sequence above. Notice that every fourth term is 1, i.e. the sequence repeats every four terms. If a terms position in the sequence is a multiple of 4, then the term will be 1. In short, the 4th, 8th, 12th, 16th terms, and so on, will be 1. Because 2012 is a multiple of 4, the 2012th term in the sequence will be 1. (We can determine if a number is a multiple of 4 by looking at its last two digits.) This means that that 2013th term will be 3. Thus, 2013 to the power of 2013 has a ones digit of 3.

The answer is 3.

Example Question #1 : How To Multiply Odd Numbers

You are given that , and  are positive integers, and

 is odd.

Which of the following is possible?

I) Exactly one of  is odd.

II) Exactly two of  are odd.

III) Exactly three of  are odd.

Possible Answers:

I or III only

III only

I or II only

I, II, or III

II only

Correct answer:

III only

Explanation:

For the product of three integers to be odd, all three integers must themselves be odd.

 must be even, so for  to be odd,  must be odd. Similarly, for  and  to be odd, respectively,  and  must be odd. 

Therefore, all three of , and  must be odd, and the correct response is III only.

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