Question

Shannon buys strawberry gum in packs of 6 pieces and blueberry gum in packs of 5 pieces. If Shannon wants to buy the same amount of each type of gum, what is the smallest number of pieces of each flavor that she must buy?

Answer 1

30 pieces of blueberry and 30 pieces of strawberry, therefore 5 packs of blueberry and 6 packs of strawberry

Answer 2

Answer:

Shannon would need to buy 5 packs of strawberry gum, and 6 packs of blueberry gum, for 30 pieces of each type of gum, and a total of 60 pieces of gum.

Step-by-step explanation:

First, identify what you know:

1) One pack of strawberry gum has 6 individual pieces of gum.

2) One pack of blueberry gum has 5 individual pieces of gum.

What is the smallest number of packs that Shannon will need to buy, to have the same number of individual pieces for each type of gum?

Basically, we need to find the Lowest Common Multiple (LCM) of 6 and 5! The LCM of two or more numbers, means the the lowest quantity of all the numbers. So, what is the lowest number that is devisable by 6 and 5?

6: 6, 12, 18, 24, 30, 36, 42, 48, 54

5: 5, 10, 15, 20, 25, 30, 35, 40, 45

Look at the multiples of 6 and 5. Is there any that both share? They both can be multiplied to equal 30!

6 x 5 = 30

5 x 6 = 30

So, basically, you would need 6 packs of blueberry gum, and 5 packs of strawberry gum!

Hope this helps! :)