Question

Sam and Carlos are bowling with plastic pins in Sam's living room. Remarkably, Sam knocks down 888 pins on every bowl, and Carlos knocks down 999 pins on every bowl. At the end of the day, Sam and Carlos have knocked down the same total number of pins. What is the least number of total pins that Sam and Carlos could have each knocked down?

Answer 1

Sam knocks down 888 pins and Carlos knocks down 999 pins on each bowling

Hence the total number of pins knocked down by each has to be a multiple of 888 and 999 as the question says that each had knocked down the same number of total pins

Hence the total number of pins is a multiple of 888 as well as 999

To find a multiple that is common to both the numbers we find the LCM

888 = 2×2×2×3×37

999 = 3×3×3×37

LCM   = 3×37×2×2×2×3×3 = 7992

Hence the total number of pins that is knocked down by both Sam and Carlos is 7992