Small apricots	Medium apricots	Large apricots
$4	$7	$8

John had some apricots in 3 sizes. The number of medium apricots was thrice the number of large apricots. The number of large apricots were five times the number of small apricots. He sold all the small and medium apricots. He received $144 from selling ¹₅ of the large apricots.

1. How many large apricots did he have at first?
2. How much less did he collect from selling the small apricots than the medium apricots?

Small apricots	Medium apricots	Large apricots
	3x5	1x5
1x1		5x1
1 u	15 u	5 u

(a)
The number of large apricots is the repeated identity. Make the number of large apricots the same.  LCM of 1 and 5 is 5.

	Small apricots	Medium apricots	Large apricots
Before	1 u	15 u	5 u
Change	- 1 u	- 15 u	- 1 u
After	0	0	4 u

Number of large apricots that John sold
= ¹₅ x 5 u
= 1 u

	Small apricots	Medium apricots	Large apricots
Number	1 u	15 u	1 u
Value	$4	$7	$8
Total value	4 u	105 u	8 u

Amount that John received from selling of ¹₅ of the large apricots = 8 u
8 u = 144

1 u = 144 ÷ 8 = 18

Number of large apricots at first
= 5 u
= 5 x 18
= 90

(b)
Amount that John collected less from selling the small apricots than the medium apricots
= 105 u - 4 u
= 101 u
= 101 x 18
= $1818

Answer(s): (a) 90; (b) $1818