Monique wants to have an equal number of cups and napkins. What is the least number of packages of cups and the least number of napkins Monique should buy to have an equal number of cups and napkins? Justify your answer.
Cups- $2.50 , 12 per package. Napkins- $4.25 , 10 per package.

Respuesta :

Answer: 5 packs of cups, 6 packs of napkins

Step-by-step explanation:

To solve this question, you need to find the least common multiple (LCM) of 12 and 10. The LCM is the lowest number that is a multiple of both of those numbers (for example, the least common multiple of 2 and 4 is four, because four is a multiple of both two and four. another example would be the lcm of 2 and 3 is 6, because both numbers can multiply to 6).

So to find the LCM, we can make a table of multiples of both of these numbers and see which one is the lowest.

12: 12, 24, 36, 48, 60

10: 10, 20, 30, 40, 50, 60

See how the lowest common multiple is 60 in this case? There are other common multiples, like 120 for example, but this is the lowest one so we'll work with it instead. Let's work out how many packs it will take to get to 60 items in total.

12 x 5 = 60, so Monique should buy 5 packs of cups.

10 x 6 = 60, so Monique should buy 6 packs of napkins.