Pamela counted the wheels of the cars and motorcycles which passed by her while she was waiting for a bus. By the time she counted 30 wheels. How many possibilities are there of each type of vehicles that could have passed by her?
Number of
possibilities |
Number of
car wheels |
Number of
motorcycle wheels |
Number of
cars |
Number of
motorcycles |
| 1. |
4 |
26 |
1 |
13 |
| 2. |
8 |
22 |
2 |
11 |
| 3. |
12 |
18 |
3 |
9 |
| ... |
|
|
|
|
| 7. |
28 |
2 |
7 |
1 |
Notice that the least number of motorcycles is 1.
So, for the last possibility, we assume the number of motorcycles to be 1.
Number of cars' wheels if there is one motorcycle
= 30 - 2
= 28
Number of cars if there is one motorcycle
= 28 ÷ 4
= 7
Number of possibilities of each type of vehicles that could have passed by her = 7
Answer(s): 7
