One tray of granola bars cut into 4 equal size pieces. A second tray was cut into 12 equal size pieces, and a third was cut into 8 equal size pieces. Jan wants to continue cutting until all three trays have the same number of pieces. How many pieces will there be on each tray?

Respuesta :

[tex]\bf \stackrel{\textit{4 pieces}}{4}\qquad \stackrel{\textit{12 pieces}}{12}\qquad \stackrel{\textit{8 pieces}}{8}\qquad \impliedby\textit{the LCD will be 24}[/tex]

4 is really 2 * 2

12 is reallly 2 * 2 * 3

8 is really 2 * 2 * 2

now, the 2 * 2, is repeated in the factoring, so we use it once only.  We still have to account for the extra 2 and 3.

therefore, the LCD will be 2 * 2 * 2 * 3, or 24.

after all the slicing in each tray, all pieces will be equal in length in each tray, and there'll be 24 of them in each tray.
12,24,36,48,60,72

4,8,12,16,20,24

8,16,24,32,40,48

the answer is 24 because all of them can be cut into 24 pieces.