Carcass wrote:
The least possible value of |23 - 7y| is
(A)0
(B)1
(C)2
(D)5
(E)9
The mistake that some people will make is assuming that y is an integer. These people will incorrectly choose answer choice C.
Since y can be ANY number, we can minimize the value of |23 - 7y| by setting 23 - y equal to zero
If
23 - 7y = 0, then
23 = 7y, which means
y = 23/7In other words, when
y = 23/7, we find that
|23 - 7y| = 0Answer: A