Each week Manhattan GMAT posts a GMAT question on our blog and follows up with the answer the next day. Are you up for the challenge?
Z is the set of the first n positive odd numbers, where n is a positive integer. Given that n > k, where k is also a positive integer, x is the maximum value of the sum of k distinct members of Z, and y is the minimum value of the sum of k distinct members of Z, what is x + y?
(A) kn
(B) kn + k2
(C) kn + 2k<2
(D) 2kn – k2
(E) 2kn