Riordan bought fewer than 15 packets of staplers. Each packet contained 12 staplers. He gave his teachers one packet of staplers each before giving an equal number of staplers to his 15 friends and had 3 staplers left. He had less than 9 teachers.
- How many staplers did each of his friends receive?
- What is the maximum number of teachers he could give a packet each to?
Since Riordan gave one packet of staplers each to his teachers, the maximum number of packets that Riordan could give to his teachers
= 15 - 1
= 14
Since the number of teachers must be less than 9, the maximum number of teachers
= 9 - 1
= 8
If Riordan had 8 teachers, the minimum number of packets that Riordan could possibly give to his friends
= 14 - 8
= 6
Find out how many packets of staplers can be distributed to his 15 friends to have 6 staplers left.
Number of packets for friends |
Total number of staplers |
Number of staplers to each of his 15 friends |
|
6
|
6 x 12 = 72 |
72 ÷ 15 = 4 r 12 |
x |
7
|
7 x 12 = 84 |
84 ÷ 15 = 5 r 9 |
x |
8
|
8 x 12 = 96 |
96 ÷ 15 = 6 r 6 |
x |
9
|
9 x 12 = 108 |
108 ÷ 15 = 7 r 3 |
✔ |
(a)
Number of staplers that each of his 15 friends received = 7
(b)
Number of packets that Riordan could give to his 15 friends = 9
Maximum number of teachers that Riordan could give one packet each to
= 14 - 9
= 5
Answer(s): (a) 7; (b) 5