A red blinking light blinks every 18 seconds, while a yellow blinking light blinks every 12 seconds. If both lights start at the same time, after how many seconds will they next blink at the same time? A) 6 B) 18 C) 36 D) 54
Mathematics · College · Mon Jan 18 2021
Answered on
Given the statement:
A red blinking light blinks every 18 seconds, while a yellow blinking light blinks every 12 seconds.
Determine how many seconds will the two lights blink at the same time.
Solution:
In order to determine how many seconds will the two lines blink at the same time, we simply needed to take the least common multiple of the two values. To do so we list the multiples of the two values individually.
Multiples of 18:
18, 36, 54, 72, 90,…
Multiples of 12:
12, 24, 36, 48, 60,…
It can be seen that the least common multiple is 36, therefore the two lights will blink at the same time after 36 seconds.
Final answer:
C) 36