A math teacher and a science teacher combine their first-period classes for a group activity. The math class has 24 students and the science class has 16 students. The teachers need to divide the students into groups of the same size. Each group must have the same number of math students. Find the greatest number of groups possible.

Question

Mathematics

Sarah Bowers

2 October, 05:34

A math teacher and a science teacher combine their first-period classes for a group activity. The math class has 24 students and the science class has 16 students. The teachers need to divide the students into groups of the same size. Each group must have the same number of math students. Find the greatest number of groups possible.

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Hobbes · Answer 1

This has to do with finding the greatest common multiple of 24 and 16.

One way of finding this is to write out the factors of each and then select the greatest factor that is common to both:

24: 1 2 3 4 6 8 12 24

16: 1 2 4 6 8 16

8 is the largest factor that will divide evenly into both 16 and 24.

The largest number of groups possible is 8.