SOLUTION: 8 children divide 32 apples. Kitty took 1 apple, Mary 2, Sherrie 3, and Caroline 4. Bob Smith took as many as his sister. Ken Brown took twice as many as his sister. Jim Jones

Question 75882: 8 children divide 32 apples. Kitty took 1 apple, Mary 2, Sherrie 3, and Caroline 4. Bob Smith took as many as his sister. Ken Brown took twice as many as his sister. Jim Jones 3 times as many as his sister and Tom Robinson 4 times as many as his sister. What is the last name of each of the 4 girls?
Please help!! I think I have tried every combo but the closest I have come is a total of 29. Thanks.
Answer by ankor@dixie-net.com(22740) (Show Source): You can put this solution on YOUR website!
8 children divide 32 apples. Kitty took 1 apple, Mary 2, Sherrie 3, and Caroline 4. Bob Smith took as many as his sister. Ken Brown took twice as many as his sister. Jim Jones 3 times as many as his sister and Tom Robinson 4 times as many as his sister. What is the last name of each of the 4 girls?
:
I came up with Kitty Jones, Mary Robinson, Sherrie Smith, and Caroline Brown
K: 1*3 + 1 = 4
M: 2*4 + 2 = 10
S: 3*1 + 3 = 6
C: 4*2 + 4 = 12
----------------
for a total 32
:
However, I can't come up with a neat algebra way to doing it.
I reasoned that the average total of each of the 4 pairs is 8
Therefore 2 pair totals will be above 8 and 2 pair totals below 8 but that
did not really help much
RELATED QUESTIONS
BOB & MARY EACH HAVE APPLES IF BOB WERE TO GIVE MARY 2 OF HIS APPLES MARY WOULD HAVE... (answered by fractalier)

Ken had 1 1/2 times as many bookmarks as Lionel. Mike had 3/4 as many bookmarks as Ken. (answered by 54929,Octo-pie7,papachick24025,greenestamps,josgarithmetic,MathTherapy)

Alvin has many apples. He gives 1/3 of his apples plus 2/3 of an apple to Bob. He then... (answered by VFBundy)

A farm store sells apple pies and apple sauce. 5 Granny Smith apples and 3 Golden... (answered by josmiceli)

Hi Ken and Ivan had some sweets. After ken gave away 5/7 of his sweets, he had 2/3 as... (answered by josgarithmetic,MathTherapy,advanced_Learner)

A fruit seller had 2520 apples and oranges. There were 2/3 as many apples as oranges. He... (answered by josgarithmetic)

A box of stickers was shared among four children. Faith and Ayan took {{{1/2}}} of the... (answered by greenestamps)

A box contains some apples. Andree takes 1/2 of them along with one extra apple. Beatrice (answered by AnlytcPhil)

Tom and Jim both went to buy apples. Tom bought 4 times as many as Jim did. Together they (answered by Alan3354)