Question

An animal shelter spends $1.50 per day to care for each bird and $3.50 per day to care for each cat. Elijah noticed that the shelter spent $103.50 caring for birds and cats on Monday. Elijah found a record showing that there were a total of 37 birds and cats on Monday. How many birds were at the shelter on Monday?

Answer 1

Number of birds = 13

Step-by-step explanation:

An animal shelter spends $1.50 per day to care for each bird and $3.50 per day to care for each cat.

Let the number of bird be 'a' and number of cat be 'b'.

Total money spent = 103.5

1.5 a + 3.5 b = 103.5 ------------------------equation 1

Total number of birds and cats = 37

a + b = 37 ------------------------equation 2

1.5 x equation 2

1.5 a + 1.5 b = 55.5 ------------------equation 3

equation 1 - equation 3

2 b = 103.5 - 55.5 = 48

b = 24

Substituting in equation 2

a = 37 - 24 = 13

Number of birds = 13, Number of cats = 24.