Wednesday, April 9, 2008

April 9th POTW

Apple Picking

Three people picked 65 apples altogether.

At the first tree they each picked the same number of apples.

At the second tree they each picked 3

times as many as they picked at the first tree.

When they finished at the third tree, the group had 5

times as many apples as they had when they started at

that tree.

At the fourth tree the group picked just 5 apples.

How many apples did each person pick at the first tree?

24 comments:

stella said...

860

Anonymous said...

Stella, that isn't possible

Anonymous said...

try to do this problem from the back to the beginning.

Anonymous said...

start at the last tree and go to the first

Anonymous said...

if there were 65 total apple and there were 3 people, each person picked about 21 apples

joey said...

when i try to go backwards i get stuck at 5 times more apples

Anonymous said...

Well what i want to know is did they each pick 5 apples at the last tree or did they pick only 5 altogether at the last tree

Anonymous said...

I also want to know that. It isn't worded very clearly

Anonymous said...

I'm thinking that it's 5 altogether at the last tree so it leaves 60 divided by three is 20 divided by 5 is 4 but you can't divide it by 3

Anonymous said...

Well it said that at the second tree they picked three times as many as they picked at the first tree. I thought it said they had three times as more as they did at the first tree

brooke said...

it isnt worded very clear and i cant get it it b/c i get stuck between 60 & 120 so i dk how to do it! wait since one was would thery start with like 1.5 or 12 or sumting?!?!?! sry i cant think right now!

Josh Weissman said...

i think that it has to be below 5 for the 1st tree

Josh Weissman said...

5
then 15
then 25
that is too high

Josh Weissman said...

4=12
then 12=48
thats too high too

Josh Weissman said...

3=9
then 9=36
then 15=7-something

Anonymous said...

this is impossible because if in the first group they picked 5 total apples, it's not possible if each person picked the same amount on the first tree.

Anonymous said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Josh Weissman said...

2=6
then 6=24
then 10=54
then 5=69
TOO HIGH!

Josh Weissman said...

i did the problem wrong!

Danny said...

at the end they all picked 5 in total

joey said...

its not they had 3 times as much after the 2nd tree it says they picked 3 times as much so u add the 1st plus the 2nd

jeremy said...

every one is right, working bakward is the best way to do it

Josh Weissman said...

Apple Picking




Each person picked 1 apple at the first tree.

Begin with 65 apples picked, and work backward. Subtract the number of apples picked at the fourth tree (5), and then divide the total (60) by 5 to equal the number of apples picked after the first two trees. The total after the first two trees is 12. Since the number of apples picked at the first two trees (12) is equal to the number of apples picked at the first tree plus 3 times the number picked at the first tree (or a total of 4 times the number picked at the first tree), then the number of apples picked at the first tree must be 12 divided by 4, or 3. Therefore, each person picked 1 apple at the first tree.

Using algebra: Suppose they pick y apples at the first tree. Then they pick 3y apples at the second tree, and have 4y apples altogether. After the third tree, they have 5 × 4y or 20y apples, and after the fourth tree, they have 20y + 5 apples.

20y + 5 = 65
20y = 60
y = 3

So, each person picks 1 apple at the first tree.

THIS IS THE ANSWER!!!!!!!!!

stella said...

if you work from the first tree you can still solve it. if you try using 1 it seems like it is too high, but since you can't go any lower than 1 it has to be the answer. but i just like to find the easy and stupid way out of doing math word problems