Four gears are in constant mesh with each other. Gear A meshes only with Gear B, B meshes with A and C, C meshes with B and D, and D meshes only with C, like this:

A B C D

Gears A, B, C, and D have 35, 27, 84, and 34 teeth, respectively.

If a vertical stripe is painted on each gear, what is the minimum number of revolutions (>0) gear A would have to make before the four stripes are vertical again?

(In reply to The Mechanical Revolution by Gamer)

32,130 is the number of teeth that have to be advanced. Since the problem called for the number of revolutions of the 35-tooth wheel, this has to be divided by 35, giving 918.

Posted by Charlie on 2003-08-15 14:49:10