Question

A problem states: "There are 2 more horses than cows in a field. There are 15 animals in the field in all. How many horses are there in the field?" Let h represent the number of horses. Which equation represents the situation? h + 2 = 15 2(h+2)=15 2h + 2= 15 2h−2=15

Answer 1

The answer is 2h−2=15. I submitted the assignment and that was the answer. ;)

Answer 2

Let h = the number of horses in the field
Let c = number of cows in the field

There are 2 more horses than cows in the field. Therefore
h = c + 2
or
c = h - 2 (1)

There are 15 animals in the field. Therefore
h + c = 15 (2)

Substitute (1) into (2).
h + (h - 2) = 15
2h - 2 = 15

Answer:
The correct equation is
2h - 2 = 15