To find the best way for Philip to sort his acorns into equal groups of both types, we first need to consider the total number of acorns he has, which is 92. He has 66 acorns with tops and 26 without.
We want to find a way to create groups such that each group contains an equal number of acorns with tops and an equal number of acorns without tops.
We can represent the number of groups he wants as \( g \).
The acorns with tops for each group would be \( \frac{66}{g} \) and the acorns without tops would be \( \frac{26}{g} \).
The total number of acorns in each group would then be: \[ \frac{66}{g} + \frac{26}{g} = \frac{66 + 26}{g} = \frac{92}{g} \]
Thus, the total number of acorns per group is dependent on \( g \).
Looking at the options given:
- 2(33 + 13): Represents 2 groups of 46.
- 1(66 + 26): Represents 1 group of 92.
- 24(3 + 1): Represents 24 groups of 4 (but does not divide 66 and 26 properly).
- 6(11 + 4): Represents 6 groups of 15.
Focusing on how Philip can sort both types equally, we notice:
- When he uses 6(11 + 4), he could make 6 groups with \( 66 \div 6 = 11 \) acorns with tops in each group and \( 26 \div 6 ≈ 4.33 \) without tops (which can't happen equally).
In contrast, 2(33 + 13) provides:
- 2 groups with \( 66 \div 2 = 33 \) tops in each and \( 26 \div 2 = 13 \) without tops, perfectly matching the distribution.
Thus, the answer that best shows how Philip can represent sorting the acorns is 2(33 + 13).