If 3^e- 3^(e-1) = 162 then e(e-1) =
Choose the correct answer
A) 12
B) 16
C) 20
D) 30
E) 81
It seems like you were really close but you solved for e - 1 instead. I am curious - how did you reason through the question? Perhaps you figured the answer has to be in the form of e(e -1), e.g. (3)(4) = 12. Even then, had you figured e has to be a little bigger (plugging in 4 for e gives you 81 which is too low), So when you reasoned the answer to be 4 you may have plugged the 4 in the (e - 1) exponent place.   Again, a quick plugging in should get you (20) 20 as the only other answer with consecutive integers as factors is far too big.
<result>C</result>
If 3^e- 3^(e-1) = 162 then e(e-1) =