A salesman packs dog biscuits in boxes containing 16,17,23, or 24 pounds each. He will not sell them in any other sizes or split a box. A customer wants exactly 100 pounds of the biscuits. Can the salesman fill the order ? If he can, how will he fill it? The salesman has as many of each size box as he might need.
Please explain how you did it. thanks
2007-11-29 13:02:11 · 1 answers · asked by matthew p 2 in Science & Mathematics ➔ Mathematics
Can't be done.
Why? Well, assume it can. Then there are at least 5 boxes (why?) and no more than 6 boxes (why?). And the number of boxes with an odd number of cookies is even (why?), i.e., it's either 0, 2, or 4. Given that, any box of 17 must be paired with one of 23, and vice versa (why?)
From there, it's easy to finish.
2007-11-29 16:22:04 · answer #1 · answered by Curt Monash 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋