Question

Alexandra give 1/2 of her marbles to Tyler, who gives 2/3 of what he receives to jan, who gives 3/4 of what she receives to jerry. If each has a counting number of marbles what is the fewest number of marbles that Alexandra could have started with?

Answer 1

The fewest number of marbles Alexandra could have started with is 6.

Step-by-step explanation:

To find the fewest number of marbles that Alexandra could have started with, we need to work backwards from the given information.

Let's start with the last step: Jerry gives 3/4 of what she receives to Jerry. This means that what Jerry receives must be 4/3 of what Jan receives.

Next, Jan gives 2/3 of what she receives to Tyler. This means that what Jan receives must be 3/2 of what Tyler receives.

Finally, Tyler gives 1/2 of what he receives to Alexandra. This means that what Tyler receives must be 2 times what Alexandra started with.

Putting it all together, we have: Alexandra's marbles * 2 * 3/2 * 4/3 = minimum number of marbles.

By substituting different values for the minimum number of marbles, we can see that the fewest number of marbles Alexandra could have started with is 6.