5th grade math help

Question

Kiera, Larry and Gina picked apples. Kiera picked twice as many as Larry and 3 times as many as Gina. The total picked is 8360 pounds. How many did each person pick?

Answer 1

This is a simple algebra problem, but I am not sure how best to explain it at 5th grade level.

Since Kiera picked 3 times as many as Larry, Larry only picked 1/3 of what Kiera picked

and similarly Gina picked only 1/2 as many as Kiera..

So together they picked 1 + (1/3) + (1/2) of what Kiera picked.

How much is 1 + (1/3) + (1/2)?

The common denominator is 6 and the sum is (6 + 2 +3)/6 = 11/6

So....Together they picked 11/6 times as much as Kiera picked

and that total is 8360 pounds.

How much did Kiera pick? 8360/(11/6) = 8360 * 6 / 11 = 4560 pounds.

Larry picked only 1/3 as much, i.e. (1/3)*4560 = 1520 and

Gina picked half as much i.e. (1/2)*4560 = 2280.

Now make sure that 4560 + 2280 + 1520 adds up to all they picked.

I hope that helps!

Answer 2

 Kiera picked twice as many as Larry and 3 times as many as Gina

K = 2L

K = 3G

2L = 3G, L = 3/2(G)

The total picked is 8360 

K + L + G = 8360

Substitute:

3G + L + G = 8360

4G + L = 8360

Substitute again:

4G + 3/2(G) = 8360

5.5 G = 8360

G = 1520

3G = 2L, 4560 = 2L, L = 2280

K = 4560