Peter piper
Weekly Problem 21 - 2016
Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers. How many more pecks must Peter Piper pick to fill a barrel?
Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers. How many more pecks must Peter Piper pick to fill a barrel?
Age
11 to 14
Challenge level
Problem
Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers.
$1\text{ peck }=\frac{1}{4}\text{ bushel}$ and $1\text{ bushel }=\frac{1}{9}\text{ barrel}$.
How many more pecks must Peter Piper pick to fill a barrel?
If you liked this problem, here is an NRICH task which challenges you to use similar mathematical ideas.
Student Solutions
Each barrel is equivalent to $9$ bushels, and each bushel is equivalent to $4$ pecks.
Therefore, each barrel is equivalent to $9 \times 4 = 36$ pecks.
Since Peter Piper has picked $1$ peck, he needs to pick $35$ more to have a barrel.