Hi, there--

PROBLEM:
Michael writes down 4 different factors of 60. 
He adds the 4 factors together.
He gets a number greater than 20 but less than 35 
What 4 factors could Michael have written down?

A SOLUTION:
One challenge of this problem is thinking about how to organize your information. You
want a list of four factors of 60 that sum to a number between 20 and 35.

First, list all the whole number factors of 60. I like to think of them in pairs. For example, 
"1 times 60 is 60, so 1 and 60 are factors.

1, 60
2, 30
3, 20
4, 15
5, 12
6, 10

List the factors in numerical order:
1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 10, 12, 15, 20, 30, 60

You are looking among these numbers to find four with a sum between 20 and 35. Are there
any numbers that you can cross off the list? For example, can 60 be one of the numbers?

No, because 60 is greater than 35, so you cannot add three other numbers to 60 and get a sum between 20 and 35.

See if there are any other numbers you can cross off.

After that, experiment with other combinations and find four that work. Keep a list of the 
combinations you tried so you don't miss any. 

I'll do one for you here:

30+20+15+12 = 77 too large

How much too large is it? 
What numbers could you trade to get a smaller sum.

See how this goes? 

I'll leave the rest to you. Feel free to email if you get stuck.

Mrs.Figgy
math.in.the.vortex@gmail.com