Marcella has 20 pairs of shoes.
Marcella has 20 pairs of shoes. If she loses 9 individual shoes, what is the greatest number of matching pairs she could have left?
Answer/Solution
15
Steps/Work
Marcella has 20 pairs of shoes and loses 9 shoes.
To minimize the loss of identical pairs of shoes we want Marcella to lose as many identical pairs as possible. This would yield 4 identical pairs and 1 additional shoe (destroying 5 pairs of shoes).
The 20 pairs of shoes minus the 5 'destroyed' pairs yields 15 pairs that still fulfill the requirements.
Answer: E
To minimize the loss of identical pairs of shoes we want Marcella to lose as many identical pairs as possible. This would yield 4 identical pairs and 1 additional shoe (destroying 5 pairs of shoes).
The 20 pairs of shoes minus the 5 'destroyed' pairs yields 15 pairs that still fulfill the requirements.
Answer: E