a) To find this, we can look at every whole numbered factors of 24.
Those are: 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 8, 12, and 24.
It can be seen that 1 and 24, 2 and 12, etc. multiply to make 24.
That means our combinations are: 1 person working nonstop, 2 people in 12 hr shifts, 3 people in 8 hr shifts, 4 people in 6 hr shifts, 6 people in 4 hr shifts, 8 people in 3 hr shifts, 12 people in 2 hr shifts, and 24 people in 1 hr shifts.
b) To find this, we have to find the LCM of 9 and 15, which is the smallest number that is the multiple of 9 and 15.
Cake/Tower method:
|9, 15
3|9, 15
3, 5
3 * 3 * 5 = 45 seconds