two boxes contain picture of hockey and basketball players.in one box the ratio of hockey players to basketball player is 4:3 in the other box the ratio is 3:2 the boxes contain the same number of picture what could the total number of pictures be?

1 answer

Let's denote the total number of pictures in each box as \( N \).

Box 1:

  • Ratio of hockey players to basketball players = 4:3.
  • Let the number of hockey players be \( 4x \) and the number of basketball players be \( 3x \).
  • Therefore, the total number of pictures in Box 1 is: \[ N_1 = 4x + 3x = 7x \]

Box 2:

  • Ratio of hockey players to basketball players = 3:2.
  • Let the number of hockey players be \( 3y \) and the number of basketball players be \( 2y \).
  • Therefore, the total number of pictures in Box 2 is: \[ N_2 = 3y + 2y = 5y \]

Since the two boxes contain the same number of pictures, we set \( N_1 = N_2 \): \[ 7x = 5y \]

To find a common value for \( N \), we can express \( y \) in terms of \( x \): \[ y = \frac{7}{5}x \]

Now, we can substitute \( y \) back to find \( N \): \[ N = 7x = 5y = 5 \left(\frac{7}{5} x\right) = 7x \]

From \( 7x = 5y \), we know:

  • \( 7x \) must be a multiple of 5 for \( y \) to be an integer.
  • Let \( x = 5k \) for some integer \( k \) (so that \( 7x \) is a multiple of 5): \[ N = 7x = 7(5k) = 35k \]

Thus, the total number of pictures \( N \) could be any multiple of 35. Therefore, the total number of pictures can be: \[ 35, 70, 105, 140, \ldots \]

In conclusion, the total number of pictures could be any multiple of 35.