A farmer picked oranges and put them all into 9 boxes. Each box had the same number of oranges. Which of the following could be the number of oranges the farmer picked? \( \begin{array}{l}\text { A. } 299\end{array} \)

To determine whether the farmer could have picked **299 oranges** and evenly distributed them into **9 boxes**, we need to check if **299** is divisible by **9**. ### Divisibility Rule for 9: A number is divisible by **9** if the **sum of its digits** is also divisible by **9**. Let's apply this rule to **299**: 1. **Sum of digits**: \[ 2 + 9 + 9 = 20 \] 2. **Check divisibility**: - **20** is **not** divisible by **9**. Since the sum of the digits (**20**) is not divisible by **9**, **299** cannot be evenly divided into **9 boxes**. ### Conclusion: **299** is **not** a possible number of oranges the farmer could have picked if each of the **9 boxes** must contain an equal number of oranges. **Answer:** 299 is not divisible by 9, so the farmer could not have picked 299 oranges.