Question

Nick has two pieces of twine.One 20 feet long and the other one 12 feet long.If he wants cut them up to produce many pieces of twine that are all of the same length with no twine left over what is the greatest length in feet that he can make them?

Answer 1

The greatest length in feet the twines can be cut into with no twine left over is 4 feet

Explanation:

To determine the greatest length a 20 feet long twine and a 12 feet long twine can be cut into such that the pieces are of the same length and no twine is left over, we will find the highest number that can be used to divide 20 and 12 with no remainder. Hence, we will find the Highest common factor (HCF) of 20 and 12.

Factors of 20 are: 1,2,4,5,10, and 20

and the factors of 12 are: 1,2,3,4,6, and 12

The highest common factors of 20 and 12 is 4.

Hence, the greatest length in feet the twines can be cut into with no twine left over is 4 feet.