Question

Tom made some beads and packed all the bead in 14 small boxes and 3 large boxes. She filled each small box with the same number of beads and each large box with the same number of beads. There were 4 more beads in each large box than in each small box. 7/9 of the beads made were packed in the small boxes. How many beads were there in each small box?

Answer 1

Each small box has 24/17 beads.

Explanation:

Let's call the number of beads in each small box "s" and the number of beads in each large box "l".

We know that there are 14 small boxes, so the total number of beads in the small boxes is 14s. We also know that there are 3 large boxes, so the total number of beads in the large boxes is 3l.

From the problem, we know that there are 4 more beads in each large box than in each small box, so we can write:

l = s + 4

We also know that 7/9 of the total number of beads were packed in the small boxes, so we can write:

14s + 3l = 7/9(total number of beads)

We can simplify this expression by substituting l = s + 4:

14s + 3(s + 4) = 7/9(total number of beads)

Expanding and simplifying:

17s + 12 = 7/9(total number of beads)

Now, we need one more equation to solve for s. We know that the total number of beads is equal to the sum of the beads in the small and large boxes:

total number of beads = 14s + 3(s + 4)

Simplifying:

total number of beads = 17s + 12

Now we have two equations that we can use to solve for s:

17s + 12 = 7/9(total number of beads)

total number of beads = 17s + 12

We don't know the total number of beads, but we do know that it is a multiple of both 14 and 3 (since there are 14 small boxes and 3 large boxes). The smallest multiple of both 14 and 3 is 42, so let's assume that the total number of beads is 42x, where x is some number.

Substituting 42x for "total number of beads" in the two equations:

17s + 12 = 7/9(42x)

42x = 17s + 12

Simplifying:

153s + 108 = 98x

42x = 17s + 12

Now we have two equations and two unknowns (s and x). We can solve for s in terms of x by isolating s in the second equation:

17s = 42x - 12

s = (42x - 12)/17

We can substitute this expression for s into the first equation:

17((42x - 12)/17) + 12 = 7/9(42x)

Simplifying:

42x - 12 + 12 = 14x

28x = 24

x = 24/28 = 0.857

Now we know that the total number of beads is:

42x = 42(0.857) = 36

And we know that each small box has:

s = (42x - 12)/17 = (36 - 12)/17 = 24/17

So each small box has 24/17 beads.