Six Chickens, Five Minutes

Date: 01/09/2003 at 17:30:47
From: Hao Meng
Subject: Logic - How many eggs will #chickens lay in #minutes

If 1 and 1/2 chickens lay 1 and 1/2 eggs in 1 and 1/2 minutes, how 
many eggs will 6 chickens lay in 5 minutes? 

Date: 01/09/2003 at 17:39:54
From: Doctor Roy
Subject: Re: Logic - How many eggs will #chickens lay in #minutes

Hi,

Thanks for writing to Dr. Math.

The 1 1/2 is confusing, right? So, let's get rid of it.

First, let's say that we have two groups of chickens, Group A and
Group B. In each group, there are 1 1/2 chickens.

Then, in 1 1/2 minutes, Group A has 1 1/2 eggs and Group B has 1 1/2 
eggs.

So, in total, Group A and Group B have given us 3 eggs in 1 1/2
minutes. Since we don't really need to keep them separate, let's 
combine Group A and Group B: 3 chickens (the total number of chickens 
from both groups) give us 3 eggs in 1 1/2 minutes.

We have already gotten rid of 2 of the 1/2's. Now, we have the last
one to go.

1 minute is 2/3 of 1 1/2, right? So the 3 chickens should be able to
lay 2/3 the number of eggs in 1 minute that they can in 1 1/2 minutes, 
or:

   3 chickens lay 2 eggs (2/3 * 3) in 1 minute.

We've gotten rid of all the 1/2's now, we know that 3 chickens lay 2
eggs in 1 minute.

Now, all we have to do is figure out how many eggs 6 chickens (or
twice 3 chickens) can lay in 1 minute and then multiply by 5 (since we
need the figure for 5 minutes).

I hope this helps.

- Doctor Roy, The Math Forum
  http://mathforum.org/dr.math/ 

Date: 01/09/2003 at 22:23:21
From: Hao Meng
Subject: Thank you (Logic - How many eggs will #chickens lay in 
#minutes)

Thank you so much for replying! I really appreaciate it - you made the 
problem simple and understandable. Thanks!