48.6k views
4 votes
There are 13 animals in the barn. Some are chickens and some are pigs. There are 40 legs in all. How many of each animal are there? Set up a system of equations and solve.

1 Answer

6 votes

Final answer:

To solve the problem, set up a system of equations by considering the number of chickens as c and the number of pigs as p. The first equation is c + p = 13, and the second equation is 2c + 4p = 40. By solving the system of equations, we find that there are 6 chickens and 7 pigs in the barn.

Step-by-step explanation:

To solve this problem, we can set up a system of equations. Let's assume that the number of chickens is represented by c and the number of pigs is represented by p. We can create two equations based on the given information:

From the first equation, we know that there are a total of 13 animals in the barn, so we can write: c + p = 13.

From the second equation, we know that the total number of legs in the barn is 40, so we can write: 2c + 4p = 40.

We now have a system of equations:

c + p = 13

2c + 4p = 40

To solve this system, we can use the method of substitution or elimination. Let's use the method of substitution. We can solve the first equation for c: c = 13 - p.

Substitute this expression for c into the second equation: 2(13 - p) + 4p = 40.

Simplify and solve for p: 26 - 2p + 4p = 40.

Combine like terms: 2p = 14.

Divide both sides by 2: p = 7.

Now that we know the number of pigs, we can substitute this value into the first equation to find the number of chickens: c + 7 = 13.

Solve for c: c = 6.

So, there are 6 chickens and 7 pigs in the barn.

User Yurii Shylov
by
8.2k points
Welcome to QAmmunity.org, where you can ask questions and receive answers from other members of our community.

9.4m questions

12.2m answers

Categories