Question

Tanmay had some chocolates with him. He gave one-third of them to Akash and one-fifth of them to Sharad. Tanmay could do so without breaking any chocolate. Which of these could be the number of chocolates Tanmay had in the beginning?

Answer 1

The possible value of X are;

15, 30, 45, 60 etc

Explanation:

The parameters given are

Number of chocolates Tanmay had = X

Number of chocolates Tanmay gave to Akash = 1/3 × X

Number of chocolates Tanmay gave to Sharad = 1/5 × X

Whereby 3 and 5 are factors of X, therefore;

3 × 5 = 15 is the lowest single factor of X

The possible values of X starting from the lowest factor are given as follows;

15 × 1 = 15

15 × 2 = 30

15 × 3 = 45

15 × 4 = 60

Hence, the possible value of X are the arithmetic progression a + (n - 1)×d

Where:

a = 15

n = 1, 2, 3, 4, ...

d = 15

Which includes;

15, 30, 45, 60