Question

Mr Penelope has 80 colored pencils and 64 markers to divide into containers for his class. He wants each container to have the same number of items. What is the greatest number of containers Mr panilio can make if he wants to each container to have the same number of colored pencils in the same number of markers

Answer 1

For this problem we should find the common greatest factor of 80 and 64, by decomposing them in their prime factors. We have the following:

`\begin{gathered} \text{Prime factorizations:} \\ 80=2\cdot2\cdot2\cdot2\cdot5 \\ 64=2\cdot2\cdot2\cdot2\cdot2\cdot2 \end{gathered}`

Since 2 is repeated 4 times, we have that the greatest common factor is: 2x2x2x2=4x4=16. Therefore, Mr. Panilio can make 16 containers.