Question

A farmer notes that in a field of horses and chickens there are 34 heads and 104 feet. How many of each animal are there

Answer 1

Answer: 18 horses and 16 chickens

Explanation:

horses = h , chickens = c

h + c = 34

4h + 2c = 104, or simplified, 2h + c = 52

Now we just use systems of equations to solve. I will subtract the second equation from the first.

(2h + c = 52) -

(h + c = 34)

so simplified, our system becomes h = 18. Therefore, there are 18 horses. Now we can plug this value into h for any of the equations to get c, the amount of chickens.

18 + c = 34

c = 16.

Therefore, there are 18 horses and 16 chickens.