Question

There are 4 more boys than girls in a

class. If there are 16 students in the
class, how many are boys? How many are
girls?
Set up an equation to show this, and then
solve.

Answer 1

There are 10 boys and 6 girls in the class

Explanation:

The given parameters are;

The number of boys = The number of girls + 4

The number of students in the class = 16

Let x represent the number of girls in the class and let y represent the number of boys in the class

Therefore;

y = x + 4...(1)

x + y = 16...(2)

Making y the subject of equation (2) gives;

y = 16 - x

Equating the values of y from equation (1) and equation (2) gives;

x + 4 = 16 - x

Which gives;

2·x = 16 - 4 = 12

x = 12/2 = 6

x = 6

The number of girls = x = 6

From equation (1), we have;

y = x + 4 = 6 + 4 = 10

y = 10

The number of boys = y = 10.