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Question


 The number of common terms in the two sequences 17, 21, 25,…417 and 16, 21, 26….466 is: (CAT 2008)


Options:
A .   78
B .   19
C .   20
D .   77
E .   22
Answer: Option C
:
C

Soln:

If we have 2 AP’s and are trying to find common terms, then the common terms also form a AP with a CD of LCM of the 2 common differences.

The first sequence is of the form 17 + 4a

And the second sequence is of the form 16 + 5b

By observation we see that 21 is the first term of the new sequence and the common difference is 20 ( LCM of 4 and 5)

Hence the sequence will be 21 + 20c

Now substitute values of c from the answer options and check that the last term should not cross 417.

Hence when we sub c=19 we see that the value is lesser than 417 and when we sub c=20 the value is 421 which is greater than 417.

Hence the number of terms will be 19 + first term = 20 terms or option ( c)



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