Camp Crona’s cook, Allison, was just about to begin preparing the picnic lunch for all the campers. She already knew she needed to fill 55 bowls of the same size and capacity with the same amount of food. When she was done, she decided to read the guidelines for the picnic, just out of curiosity. The guidelines said:
1. Every camper gets their own bowl of soup. 2. Every two campers will get one bowl of spaghetti to share. 3. Every three campers will get one bowl of salad to share. 4. All campers are required to have their own helping of salad, spaghetti, and soup.
After some rapid calculations, Margaret was able to figure out how many campers were going to the picnic. Can you?
If N = number of campers, 55 bowls = N soup bowls + N/2 spaghetti bowls + N/3 salad bowls. Solving for N gives you N = 30.