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 =