Question

Melanie has pieces of train track that are 8 inches long that she is connecting together to form a track that her train can travel on. Martin is also trying to construct a track for his train but is using track pieces that are 20 inches long. How long will the shortest track be if the track that Melanie builds ends up being the same length as Martin's track?

Answer 1

The shortest track will be 40 inches long.

Step-by-step explanation:

To find the length of the shortest track, we need to find the least common multiple (LCM) of the two track lengths, 8 inches and 20 inches.

The LCM is the smallest number that both track lengths divide evenly into. In this case, the LCM is 40 inches.

Therefore, the shortest track will be 40 inches long.