CAT 2020

Slot 1

QA

Question & Solution

Since $c < 9$, we can have the following viable combinations for $b \times c = 96$ (given our objective is to minimize the sum):

$48 \times 2$ ; $32 \times 3$ ; $24 \times 4$ ; $16 \times 6$ ; $12 \times 8$

Similarly, we can factorize $a \times b = 432$ into its factors. On close observation, we notice that $18 \times 24$ and $24 \times 4$ corresponding to $a \times b$ and $b \times c$ respectively together render us with the least value of the sum of $a+b+c = 18+24+4 = 46$

Hence, Option D is the correct answer.