Browse · harp
Printimc
prealgebra intermediate
Problem
The town of Hamlet has people for each horse, sheep for each cow, and ducks for each person. Which of the following could not possibly be the total number of people, horses, sheep, cows, and ducks in Hamlet?
(A)
(B)
(C)
(D)
Solution
Let the amount of people be , horses be , sheep be , cows be , and ducks be . We know Then the total amount of people, horses, sheep, cows, and ducks may be written as . This is equivalent to . Looking through the options, we see is impossible to make for integer values of and . So the answer is .
Final answer
B