Question

An animal shelter spends $1.50 per day to care for each cat and $3.50 per day to care for each dog. Amelia noticed that the shelter spent $57.50 caring for cats and dogs on Wednesday. Amelia found a record showing that there were a total of 29 cats and dogs on Wednesday. How many cats were at the shelter on Wednesday?

Answer 1

There was 22 cats on Wednesday.
Because 22 * 1.50 is 33
And 7 * 3.50 is 24.5
So adding that together it makes 57.50, meaning that there’s 22 cats and 7 dogs

Answer 2

On Wednesday there are 22 cats at the shelter.

Explanation:

Let c= cats and d=dogs on Wednesday, from the given question,

c + d = 29 as equation (i)

1.5c + 3.5d = 57.50 as equation (ii)

By solving (i) and (ii)

(c + d =29) × 1.5 = 1.5c + 1.5d = 43.5

(1.5c + 3.5d = 57.50) × 1 = 1.5c + 3.5d = 57.50

By solving we get d = 7

For c substitute the c value of d into 1.5c + 3.5d = 57.50

1.5 c + 3.5 (7) = 57.50

1.5c + 24.5 = 57.50

`1.5 c+24.5=57.50\Rightarrow1.5 c=57.50-24.5\Rightarrow1.5 c=33 \Rightarrow c=(33)/(1.5)=22`

We get c = 22, d = 7

Therefore, we came to know that there were 22 cats and 7 dogs.