Emma and Rafael were hosting an anniversary party in their back garden, and Laura and Louise offered to run the little dessert table. To keep things tidy, they decided to pack everything into identical party bundles for guests to take home.
By the time the fairy lights were glowing, they counted 168 mini cupcakes ready to go. Laura said, “Let’s make the same number of bundles as the number of years Emma and Rafael have been married.” Louise nodded and held up a card that read: “We’ve been married 12 years.”
They agreed that every bundle must contain the same number of cupcakes, with none left over. After packing the cupcakes, Emma added a finishing touch: 36 chocolate hearts. She wanted to put the same number of hearts into each bundle too, again with none left over.
Rafael smiled. “Perfect,” he said. “Everyone will get an identical bundle, and no one will need to argue over who got more.”
Laura lined the boxes in a neat row, Louise checked the ribbon, and Emma asked one final question before they started handing them out.
How many cupcakes and chocolate hearts will each guest get in their bundle?
Use this box for your working out / notes:
Short Story – Hard
Watch for “hidden constraints”: phrases like “at least”, “no more than”, “exactly”, “twice as many”, “the remainder”.
Hard-mode workflow:
Tip: if you get stuck, test a small value that fits one constraint and see what the others force.
You must be logged in to view this answer.
Log in to continue
