How do i help my brother with this math problem?

Question

The 40-piece marching band is trying out different combinations of marchers in each row. Each row must have at least 4 marchers and no more than 8 marchers. What is a number of marchers taht could make up a row? How many rows will there be with that number?

how do i explain this to him?

haha very funny. i explain this to him in every possible way. he still doesnt understand.

Answer 1

Draw it (boxes), or use the mutliples of 40 to find it.

Answer 2

You know that the rows must contain from 4-8 people. You can pick any number between 4-8 that 40 is divisible by, eg. 4,5, and 8. 6 and 7 do not evenly go into 40, and so the amount of people on every row would not be the same(most likely an odd number on the last row).
If 4 was chosen, there would be 10 rows of people--because 40/4 = 10.Same for 5 and 8, but with 8 and 5 rows, respectively.

Answer 3

is there a limit to the number of rows?
you could have 10 rows of 4, 8 rows of 5, 5 rows of 8, or some less obvious answers, like 4 rows of 8 and 2 rows of 4. The list goes on and on.

Answer 4

well pick a number between 4 and 8. then divide 40 by the number. or subtract the number from 40 multiple times until you reach zero. then of course how many ever times you had to subtract your number would be the number of rows.

or if the rows do not all have to be even, subtract the number from 40 multiple times until you reach a number less than your number and that will be the remainder of people in the last row.

Answer 5

You are looking for factors of 40, with 4 and 8 being your limits. What two numbers, when multiplied together, make 40? There are three possible answers for your problem.

Answer 6

draw a diagram

Answer 7

lol yea, your "brother" nice cover-up