SOLUTION: I am trying to help my daughter with homework and apparently it has been too long since I last did algebra. Can you please help me understand so that I can help her? This is the

Question 563486: I am trying to help my daughter with homework and apparently it has been too long since I last did algebra. Can you please help me understand so that I can help her? This is the problem:
21 animals total , all sheep and chickens.
56 legs total, how many of the 21 animals are sheep and how many are chickens?
Thank you.
Answer by mananth(16946) (Show Source): You can put this solution on YOUR website!
Let the number of sheep be x
Let the number of chikens be x
x+y = 21.......................(1)
we all know sheep has 4 legs and chicken has two
the number of legs are56
4x+2y=56.......................(2)
Multiply equation (1) by -2
we get -2x-2y=-42
add this equation to (2)
-2x-2y=-42
4x+2y=56
2x= 14
/2
x=7 , number of sheep
so the number of chickens will 21-7 = 14
CHECK
14*2+7*4=56
cheers
m.ananth@hotmail.ca

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