Question

Ms. Franco has 64 pencils and 48 erasers. She wants to put an equal number of pencils and erasers into boxes for her students. What is the GREATEST number of pencils or erasers Ms. Franco can put in each box?

answer: 16

but why is the answer 16

Answer 1

16

Explanation:

Given that:

Number of pencils = 64

Number of erasers = 48

To obtain the GREATEST number of pencils or erasers Ms. Franco can put in each box, the we find the greatest common factor of both numbers ; 64, 48

_____64 ___48

__2__32___24

__2__16___12

__2__8___ 6

__2__4___3

No number can divide both numbers simultaneously further.

Hence, greatest common factor :

(2 * 2 * 2 * 2) = 16