problem

[sumasajja]

A gardener sets 180 plants in rows.Each row contains some number of plants.If there were 40 plants in each row, the gardener would need 6 fewer rows.How may rows are there?

[vineeshp]

I am not sure if you have posted the numbers correctly.

[Hardikbheda]

Some thing does seem amiss about this problem, but if you assume certain things (such as, the last row neednt be completely filled with plants), I guess we can attempt solving it.

Here is my attempt at trying to solve it:

Well, if there are 180 plants and 40 plants per row. That means its 40 plants in the first 4 rows and 20 plants in the 5th row. (Simple arithmetic: 180 plants / 40 plants per row = 4.5 rows OR 4 full rows and 1 half row.)

Now, if the question says that if above was the case, the gardener would've needed 6 fewer rows. This imples that he has 6 more rows than he would've had if he planted the 180 plants such that 40 plants were present per row, which woukd be 5+6 = 11.

So the gardener has 11 rows in total at present.

Hope this helps but since Arithmetic isnt one of my strongest traits, please correct me if this is awfully wrong.

Cheers!