Howard and Liam have some green staplers and some blue staplers. The number of blue staplers Howard has is equal to the number of green staplers Liam has. ¹₄ of Howard's staplers are green and ³₄ of Liam's staplers are blue. There are a total of 8 green staplers. Find the total number of staplers they have.

Howard		Liam		Total
Green	Blue	Green	Blue
	1x3	1x3
1x1	3x1	1x3	3x3
1 u	3 u	3 u	9 u	16 u

The number of Howard's blue staplers and Liam's green staplers is the same.

The number of Howard's blue staplers is repeated. The number of Liam's green staplers is repeated.  Make the number of Howard's blue staplers and Liam's green staplers the same.  LCM of 3 and 4 is 3.

Number of green staplers
= 1 u + 3 u
= 4 u

4 u = 8

1 u = 8 ÷ 4 = 2

Total number of staplers
= 1 u + 3 u + 3 u + 9 u
= 16 u
= 16 x 2
= 32

Answer(s): 32