Mary was counting down from 34 and Thomas was counting upwards simulta...
Mary was counting down from 34 and Thomas was counting upwards simulta...
To find the common number that Mary and Thomas will call out at the same time, we need to determine when their counting sequences will intersect.
Mary is counting down from 34, while Thomas is counting upwards from 1 and only calling out the odd numbers.
We can start by listing out the numbers that Mary and Thomas would call out, and then find the common number in their sequences.
Mary's sequence:
34, 33, 32, 31, 30, ...
Thomas's sequence:
1, 3, 5, 7, 9, ...
We can see that Mary's sequence is counting down by 1 each time, while Thomas's sequence is counting up by 2 each time (since he's only calling out the odd numbers).
Finding the common number:
To find the common number, we can observe that Mary's sequence will reach a number that is divisible by 2 (since she is counting down by 1 each time), while Thomas's sequence will reach a number that is divisible by 2 (since he's only calling out the odd numbers).
Since both sequences will reach a number that is divisible by 2, the common number they will call out at the same time will be the next number that is divisible by 2 after 34.
The next number divisible by 2 after 34 is 36. However, since Thomas is only calling out odd numbers, the common number they will call out at the same time will be the next odd number after 36, which is 37.
Therefore, the correct answer is option D) 23.