Question

An animal shelter spends $5.00 per day to care for each bird and $7.50 per day to care for each cat. Jayden noticed that the shelter spent $247.50 caring for birds and cats on Wednesday. Jayden found a record showing that there were a total of 41 birds and cats on Wednesday. How many birds were at the shelter on Wednesday?

Answer 1

24 birds

Explanation:

Let b represent the number of birds at the shelter on Wednesday. Then the cost of care for the 41 animals is ...

5b +7.5(41 -b) = 247.50

-2.5b +307.50 = 247.50 . . . . . simplify

-2.5b = -60 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . subtract 307.50

b = 24 . . . . . . . . . divide by -2.5

The number of birds at the shelter on Wednesday was 24.