 |
| ||
| |||
|
| Math Central | Quandaries & Queries |
|
Question from Eileen, a parent: A group of girls collected some seashells from the beach. They tried to divided these seashells equallly among them. If each girl received 8 seashells, they would need 5 more seashells. If each girl received 7 seashells, they would hve 3 seashells extra. How many seashells did they collect from the beach altogether? |
Eileen,
The number of shells is a multiple of 8 minus 5 so belongs to the set of numbers: 3, 11, 19, 27, ... (this really is the same as saying it is a multiple of 8 plus 3).
The number of shells is a multiple of 7 plus 3 so belongs to the set of numbers: 10, 17, 24. .. . (note from the context we have to start at 10, not 3, this time).
Write out these sequences a little farther and you'll see where they meet.
Penny
8 shells per girl would need 5 more shells, and 7 shells per girl would need 3 fewer.
So how many shells difference does one more shell per girl make?
Then how many girls are there? And how many shells?
Good Hunting!
RD
| ||
| ||
| ||
 |
 |
|
Math Central is supported by the University of Regina and The Pacific Institute for the Mathematical Sciences.