Question

Pirate Jack has an equal number of gold and silver coins. If Pirate Jack splits all of his coins into 7 equal piles for his parrots, he has 4 coins left. Or, if he splits all of his coins into 11 equal piles for his shipmates, he has 4 coins left. Assuming every pile has at least 1 coin, what is the least possible number of coins Pirate Jack has? Help needed as soon a possible

Answer 1

158 coins

Explanation:

If you find a common of 7 and 11 and add the remainder of 4, you will get the answer

The lcm of 7 and 11 is 77

77+4 is 81

81 is odd, so it is wrong. You must be able to split the coins into 2 equal groups (gold and silver)

Thus, the answer is 158 coins

77*2+4=158

Answer 2

The least possible number of coins the Pirate has = 81

Explanation:

Given:

Pirate Jack has equal number of gold and silver coins.

When the pirate splits the coins into 7 equal piles he has 4 coins left.

When the pirate splits the coins into 11 equal piles he has 4 coins left.

Every pile has at least 1 coin.

To find the least possible number of coins Pirate Jack has.

Solution:

In order to find the least possible number of coins pirate Jack has, we must find the least common multiple of the number of piles the coins are split into.

So, the least common multiple of 7 and 11 can be found by listing the multiples.

`7= 7,14,21,28...............,77`

`11=11,22,33,44,55,66,77`

So, we find the least common multiple of 7 and 11 is 77.

Number of coins left = 4

Total number of coins the pirate must have =
`77+4 =81`

We can check the answer by dividing 81 by 7 and 11. I both cases we get remainder = 4.

So, the least possible number of coins the pirate has = 81