Algebra 1: Common Core (15th Edition)

Published by Prentice Hall
ISBN 10: 0133281140
ISBN 13: 978-0-13328-114-9

Entry-Level Assessment - Multiple Choice - Page xxxviii: 4

Answer

Number of goats = 14 Number of chickens = 9

Work Step by Step

Let the number of goats be x and the number of chickens be y. Since we know the total number of animals is 23, we can say: $x+y=23$ Since each goat has 4 legs and each chicken has 2 legs, we can also get $4x+2y=74$ To get a common term in both equations, we can multiply both sides of the first equation by 2 and distribute: $2(x+y)=2(23)$ $2x+2y=46$ Now that both equations have a common term (2y), we can find the difference and then solve for x: $(4x+2y)-(2x+2y)=(74)-(46)$ $4x+2y-2x-2y=28$ $2x=28$ $x=14$ We can plug this value back into the first equation to find y: $(14)+y=23$ $y=9$ Therefore: Number of goats = 14 Number of chickens = 9
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