Question

A Spanish class has 28 a total of students. The number of females is 4 less than the number of males. How many males and how many females are in the class?

Answer 1

Use the following equations to find the amount of males and females in the class:


`x + y = 28`


`x = y + 4`

x represents the males in the class, and y represents the females in the class.

Because x = y + 4, we can substitute x in the first equation:


`x = y + 4`

`y + 4 + y = 28`

Combine like terms.


`2y + 4 = 28`

Subtract 4 from both sides.


`2y = 24`

Divide both sides by 2 to get y by itself.


`y = 12`

Because we know what y is, we can plug in its value into the first equation:


`x + 12 = 28`

Subtract 12 from both sides to get x by itself.


`x = 16`

There are 16 males and 12 females in the class.

Answer 2

Let's use F for the number of females and M for the number of males. We can express the situation with the following system of equations:

F + M = 28

F = M - 4

Now we can solve for M by substitution. In the first equation, replace F with (M - 4):

(M - 4) + M = 28

Combine like terms and solve for M:

2M - 4 = 28

2M = 32

M = 16

If there are 16 males, we can solve for the number of females by plugging 16 back into one of the equations:

F = 16 - 4 = 12

There are 16 males and 12 females.