Question

Sally is arranging her books on shelves. She has 16 adventure books, 32 mysteries, and 12 biographies. She wants each shelf to have the same number of each type of book. What is the greatest number of shelves that Sally will use if she puts all the books on shelves? How many of each type of book will be on each shelf?

Answer 1

4

Explanation:

The number of shelves must be a factor of the number of books from each category. (Because you are using multiple shelves). You are looking for the greatest amount, so you need to greatest, common factor (GCF) from each bunch of books.

GCF of 12, 16, 32 is 4.

Answer 2

Greatest number of shelves is 4.

Number of adventure book on each shelf is 4.

Number of mysteries book on each shelf is 8.

Number of biographies book on each shelf is 3.

Explanation:

Here Sally has 16 adventure books, 32 mysteries, and 12 biographies.

The greatest number dividing all the numbers are 4.

So number of shelves is 4.

`\texttt{Number of adventure book on each shelf =}(16)/(4)=4\\\\\texttt{Number of mysteries book on each shelf =}(32)/(4)=8\\\\\texttt{Number of biographies book on each shelf =}(12)/(4)=3`

Greatest number of shelves is 4.

Number of adventure book on each shelf is 4.

Number of mysteries book on each shelf is 8.

Number of biographies book on each shelf is 3.