Back to Math Problems (Age 7-9)
A group of four friends visited an apple orchard that has 72 apples ready to be picked. Each friend picks three apples a day from the tree, and no one else picks any apples.
(a) How many apples will be left on the tree at the end of the first day?
(b) If they start picking apples from the tree on a Wednesday, on what day of the week will they pick the last apple?
(a) Since each friend picks 3 apples and there are 4 friends, this means 3 + 3 + 3 + 3 or 3 × 4 = 12 apples are picked from the tree each day. Since the tree started with 72 apples, this means it will have 72 – 12 = 60 apples left at the end of the first day.
(b) We can make a table to keep track of how many apples are left on the tree at the end of each day, knowing that the friends pick 12 apples a day. From part (a), we know that there are 60 apples left at the end of the first Wednesday.
| Day | Apples Left at End of Day |
|---|---|
| Wednesday | 60 |
| Thursday | 48 |
| Friday | 36 |
| Saturday | 24 |
| Sunday | 12 |
| Monday | 0 |
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