Question

Cean has 8-inch pieces of toy train track and Ruth has 18-inch pieces of train track.
How many of each piece would each child need to build tracks that are equal in length?
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Answer 1

Given,

Length of the smaller train track = 8 inch

Length of the bigger train track = 18 inch

To find,

The number of each train tracks which will gradually form equal length of tracks.

Solution,

First of all, we have to calculate the minimum common Length, that can be formed by certain number of pieces of each tracks.

For this, we have calculate the LCM of the given lengths.

LCM of the lengths :

8 = 2×2×2

18 = 2×3×3

Greatest sets of each factors = 2³,3²

LCM = 2³×3² = 8×9 = 72

Number of small tracks = 72/8 = 9

Number of big tracks = 72/18 = 4

Hence, we need 9 smaller tracks and 4 bigger tracks.