Japheth and Tom have some brown staplers and some silver staplers. The number of silver staplers Japheth has is equal to the number of brown staplers Tom has. ¹₄ of Japheth's staplers are brown and ²₃ of Tom's staplers are silver. There are a total of 40 brown staplers. Find the total number of staplers they have.

Japheth		Tom		Total
Brown	Silver	Brown	Silver
	1x3	1x3
1x1	3x1	1x3	2x3
1 u	3 u	3 u	6 u	13 u

The number of Japheth's silver staplers and Tom's brown staplers is the same.

The number of Japheth's silver staplers is repeated. The number of Tom's brown staplers is repeated.  Make the number of Japheth's silver staplers and Tom's brown staplers the same.  LCM of 3 and 4 is 3.

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

4 u = 40

1 u = 40 ÷ 4 = 10

Total number of staplers
= 1 u + 3 u + 3 u + 6 u
= 13 u
= 13 x 10
= 130

Answer(s): 130