Miss Smith is teaching second period English and is shocked at how small the class seems. There are 6 tables in the classroom with 3 students currently sitting at each table. Sally said 3 girls went to the bathroom, and three times more students went to the canteen. Elliott said that 2 groups of students have recently been added to their class, and each group has 4 students in it. None of these students are in the class right now. Lucas pointed out that a few foreign exchange students have joined the class; 3 from Germany, 3 from France, and 3 from Norway. These students are also missing. How many students are supposed to be in the class? Let's think first. Chain of thought:
There are currently 3 * 6 = 18 students sitting in the classroom. There were 3 * 3 = 9 students who went to the canteen. Sally has therefore noticed 3 + 9 = 12 students missing from the class. Elliott said that 2 groups of students have joined the class, so there are another 2 * 4 = 8 students who are not in the classroom. Lucas said that there are 3 + 3 + 3 = 9 foreign exchange students who are not in the classroom. Therefore, there should be 18 + 12 + 8 + 9 = 47 students.
Therefore, the answer is 47.