Three sets of English, mathematics and science books containing 336, 240 and 96 books respectively have to be stacked in such a way that all the books are stored subject wise and the height of each stack is the same. How many stacks will be there?

The number of stacks will be minimum if each stack accommodates maximum number of books.


height of each stack is the same and all of them are of the same subject.


Therefore, the number of books in each stack must be the HCF of 336,240 and 96.


So HCF of 336,240 and 96 -


Prime factors of numbers are -


336 = 2 × 2 × 2 × 2 × 3 × 7


240 = 2 × 2 × 2 × 2 × 3 × 5


96 = 2 × 2 × 2 × 2 × 2 × 3


HCF = 2 × 2 × 2 × 2 × 3 = 48


Therefore, in each stack 48 books can be placed.


Total number of books = 336 + 240 + 96 = 672


So minimum number of stacks required to accommodate all books = 672/48 = 14


15