A farmer saw some chickens and pigs in a field. He counted 60 heads and 176 legs. How many chickens and how many pigs did the farmer see ?
Question
Answer:
He saw 32 chickens and 28 pigs.Let p be the number of pigs and c be the number of chickens.
Each pig has 1 head and each chicken has 1 head; this gives us the equation
1p + 1c = 60 or
p + c = 60
Each pig has 4 legs and each chicken has 2 legs; this gives us the equation
4p + 2c = 176
In the first equation, we will isolate c by subtracting p from both sides:
p + c - p = 60 - p
c = 60 - p
We will substitute this into the second equation:
4p + 2(60 - p) = 176
Using the distributive property,
4p + 2*60 - 2*p = 176
4p + 120 - 2p = 176
Combining like terms,
2p + 120 = 176
Subtract 120 from each side:
2p + 120 - 120 = 176 - 120
2p = 56
Divide both sides by 2:
2p/2 = 56/2
p = 28
There are 28 pigs.
Substitute this into the first equation:
p + c = 60
28 + c = 60
Subtract 28 from each side:
28 + c - 28 = 60 - 28
p = 32
solved
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10 months ago
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