Cookie question middle school math

Question

Two students made the same number of cookies for the school bake sale. The first student made cookies in batches of 9 and the second student made cookies in batches of 12. Which of the following expressions represents the smallest possible number of cookies made by each student

A. 2² x 3²

B. 2² x 3³

C. 2⁴ x 3²

D. 2⁴ x 3⁵

Answer 1

if they made just one batch each, that's 9+12=21, but none of the choices give that small a number

if you have them making batcheS, plural, more than one batch each, then smallest number would be 18+24 = 42

A is 2^2 x 3^2 = 36

B is 2^2 x 3^3 = 108

C is 2^4 x 3^2 = 16x9 =144

D is 2^4 x 3^5 = 16x243=3888

"Best" choice would be A, although it's unclear where they get 36 from. 36 is closest to 42, among the 4 choices. "best" choice is how they often instruct the test taker to choose, the only most "correct" or least incorrect

maybe the plural applied to only one student, then minimum made would be 18+12=30

or 24+9=33. still not 36,