1. Ajay has 15 marbles, Balu has 2 marbles, Chandra has 3 marbles, David has 7 marbles, Eshwar has 8 marbles. Find the least possible number of marbles that can be changed among these five so that each have same number of marbles?
Solution
Answer: 9
Explanation: The total number of marbles is 15+2+3+7+8 = 35. Hence if each have equal number of marbles they should have 35/5 = 7 marbles with them. Now David has 7 marbles and so we leave him. Eshwar can lend 1 marble to Chandra, so that Chandra now will have 4 and Eshwar will have 7 marbles. Now Ajay can lend 3 marbles to Chandra and 5 to Balu so that they all have 7 marbles. Hence the minimum number of marbles that were lended to achieve same number of marbles would be 1+3+5 = 9.
