Question

Each student needs a pencil and a eraser to take a test.If pencils come in 8 in a box and erasers come 12 in a bag, what is te least number of boxes and bags needed for 24 students to each have a pencil and a eraser

Answer 1

The least number of boxes and bags needed are 3 and 2 respectively.

Explanation

Suppose, the number of boxes is $x$ and the number of bags is $y$

Given that, pencils come in 8 in a box and erasers come 12 in a bag.

So, the total number of pencils in $x$ number of boxes $=8x$ and the total number of erasers in $y$ number of bags $=12y$

As there are total 24 students and each student needs one pencil and one eraser to take a test, so...

$8x=24\\ \\ x= \frac{24}{8}=3$

and

$12y=24\\ \\ y=\frac{24}{12}=2$

So, the least number of boxes and bags needed are 3 and 2 respectively.