Lee and Michael have some purple staplers and some red staplers. The number of red staplers Lee has is equal to the number of purple staplers Michael has. ¹₃ of Lee's staplers are purple and ³₄ of Michael's staplers are red. There are a total of 9 purple staplers. Find the total number of staplers they have.

Lee		Michael		Total
Purple	Red	Purple	Red
	1x2	1x2
1x1	2x1	1x2	3x2
1 u	2 u	2 u	6 u	11 u

The number of Lee's red staplers and Michael's purple staplers is the same.

The number of Lee's red staplers is repeated. The number of Michael's purple staplers is repeated.  Make the number of Lee's red staplers and Michael's purple staplers the same.  LCM of 2 and 3 is 2.

Number of purple staplers
= 1 u + 2 u
= 3 u

3 u = 9

1 u = 9 ÷ 3 = 3

Total number of staplers
= 1 u + 2 u + 2 u + 6 u
= 11 u
= 11 x 3
= 33

Answer(s): 33