How many kilograms purchased??

[mysts99]

My co-workers 3rd grade son came home last night with this problem. They could not solve it and sent it back with him unfinished with a note that they couldn't solve it. Of course it is driving her crazy now so we are trying to get the answer. Since he is in 3rd grade I have placed this under the Arithmetic section. Here goes:
Jerry has 4000 grams of oranges that he puts in mesh bags. Barry bought 12 bags. How many kilograms of oranges did Barry buy???
The only thing we do know is the answer is not 4.
Thanks (from someone very bad at math)

 

[galactus]

The statement is rather ambiguous. Does Jerry put 4000 grams of oranges in each bag?. If so, 4000 grams is 4 kilograms.

If there are 4 kilos in each bag, then 12 would have 48 kilos. See?.

 

[tkhunny]

One of the joys of mathematics is knowing when a problem has insufficient information.

4000 gm = 4 kg

How many grams went into each bag? This we do not know. The question cannot be solved without some assumptions.

For Example) Assume Jerry filled 20 bags. 4000 gm / 20 bag = 200 gm/bag ==> 12 bags * (200 gm/bag) = 2.4 kg

If the 3rd grader WROTE the problem, then it makes perfect sense that it might be a bit garbled. If his teacher wrote the problem, and you reported it correctly, something is very wrong unless this is a test to identify a situation with insufficient information.

 

[mysts99]

Thank you. Everyone that has looked at this problem feels there is not really enough information to solve it properly. I will pass on your answer.
To clarify, the problem was copied out of a book. I have no idea what book but I would think the editor of the book missed this one.
Thanks