A ship sails with a supply of rations for 60 days at a daily allowance of 2.1 pounds of food per head. After sailing for 20 days, the ship encounters a storm in which five members of the crew are washed overboard .

The damages sustained by the ship add a 24 days delay to the trip; thus, each crew member’s allowance must be reduced to 1.5 pounds of food per head.

Find the original number of members of the crew.

The ship started with 60x2.1xC= 126C pounds of food,  C being the size of the crew. After 20 days, 40x2.1xC= 84C pounds are left. The trip has 64 days left with C-5 crew members,  eating 1.5 pounds each, so 84C= 64x1.5x(C-5)= 96(C-5). Equating you get 12C=480, so C=40.

Edited on December 20, 2006, 10:46 am

Posted by e.g. on 2006-12-20 10:45:56