Question

A zoo is building a new large-cat exhibit. Part of the space will be used for lions and part for leopards. The exhibit will house eight large cats in all. Expenses for a lion will be about $8000 per year, and expenses for a leopard will be about $6000 per year. Write an equation that can be used to find y, the yearly expenses for the eight cats in the exhibit when z of the cats are loins

Answer 1

Total cats: 8
Total expense: y
Expense per lion: $8,000
Total lions: z
Expense per leopard: $6,000
Total leopards: 8 - z
Therefore, the equation becomes:
total expense = number of lions × expense per lion + number of leopards ×expense per leopard
y = 8000z + 6000(8 - z)
y = 2000z + 48000