Which is the best strategy to solve this problem?

Mary-Ann is making gift baskets for her friends. She has 32 candles and 64 lotion bottles. She splits the candles and lotion bottles equally among 8 baskets.

How many items were in each basket?

A.
Draw a diagram.

Draw 8 circles to represent baskets. Think 32 ÷ 8 = 4, so draw 4 candles in each circle. Think 64 ÷ 8 = 8, so draw 8 dots in each circle. Count up the objects in a circle to find the number of items in each basket.

B.
Guess and test.

Guess that the number of items in each basket is 9. Multiply 8 × 9. Ask yourself if this is the same as the sum of 32 + 64? If not, revise your guess, and test your answer again.

C.
Write a number sentence.

(32 + 64) × 8 =