Marshall's Sweets sells donuts in packages of 8. Across town, Sullivan Pastries sells donuts in

packages of 40. If Jeff wants to buy the same number of donuts from each bakery for a taste

test, what is the smallest number of donuts he will have to buy from each?

40 donuts

Explanation:

There are two packages of donuts with a different number of donuts inside the package. We want to find out the smallest number of packages that will give the same number of donuts. This can be solved by finding out the least common multiplier (LCM) of both packages. First packages are 8, the factor will be:

8 = 2 * 2 * 2 = 2^3

The second package is 40, the factor will be:

40 = 2 * 2 * 2 * 5 = 2^3 * 5

We can see that the highest factor for 2 is 2^3 and the highest factor for 5 is 5, then the LCM will be 2^3 * 5 = 40.

Jeff needs to buy 40 donuts, 5 packages from Marshall's Sweets or 1 package from Sullivan Pastries.