gmatpup wrote:A gym class can be divided into 8 teams with an equal number of players on each team or into 12 teams with an equal number of players on each team. What is the lowest possible number of students in the class?
A. 20
B. 24
C. 36
D. 48
E. 96
Answer is
B
Thanks again
Solution:
We are given that a gym class can be divided into 8 teams or 12 teams, with an equal number of players on each team. Translating this into two mathematical expressions we can say, where G is the total number of students in the gym class, that:
G/8 = integer and G/12 = integer
This means that G is a multiple of both 8 and 12.
We are asked to determine the lowest number of students in the class, or the lowest value for variable “G”. Because we know that G is a multiple of 8 and of 12, we need to find the least common multiple of 8 and 12. Although there are technical ways for determining the least common multiple, the easiest method is to analyze the multiples of 8 and 12 until we find one in common.
Starting with 8, we have: 8, 16, 24, 32
For 12, we have: 12, 24
For the multiples of 12, we stopped at 24, because we see that 24 is also a multiple of 8. Thus, 24 is the least common multiple of 8 and 12, and therefore we know that the lowest possible number of students in the gym class is 24.
The answer is
B
Jeffrey Miller
Head of GMAT Instruction
[email protected]
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