Question

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?

Answer 1

$\bf \stackrel{\textit{4 pieces}}{4}\qquad \stackrel{\textit{12 pieces}}{12}\qquad \stackrel{\textit{8 pieces}}{8}\qquad \impliedby\textit{the LCD will be 24}$

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.

Answer 2

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.