Find four whole numbers... Is this maths question impossible?

179 Views Asked by At

I'm helping out my nephew with his 11+ exam revision. We have practice papers but no answers so.

One of the questions is as follows:

Find four whole numbers whose sum is 400, such that the first number is twice as large as the second, the second number is twice as large as the third, and the third is twice as large as the fourth.

My math gives me:

8x + 4x + 2x + x = 15x = 400

400/15 = 26.6666...

Which is obviously not a whole number.

Am I missing something basic or is this just an impossible/misleading question?