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Anton has two species of ants, Species A and Species B, in his ant farm. The two species are identical in appearance, but Anton knows that every day, there are twice as many ants of Species A than before, while there are three times as many ants of Species B. On Day 0, Anton counts that there are 30 ants in his ant farm. On Day 5, Anton counts that there are 3281 ants in his ant farm. How many of these are of Species A?

 Sep 28, 2017

Best Answer 

 #1
avatar+9460 
+3

Let  a  be the number of species A ants he had to begin with.

Let  b  be the number of species B ants he had to begin with.

 

On day 0 there are  a + b ants.

On day 1 there are  2a + 3b  ants.

On day 2 there are  2 * 2a + 3 * 3b  ants.

On day 3 there are  2 * 2 * 2 * a + 3 * 3 * 3 * b  ants.

On day 4 there are  24 * a + 34 * b  ants.

On day n there are  2n * a + 3n * b

So...

On day 5 there are 25 * a + 35 * b

 

a + b  =  30     →     b = 30 - a

 

25 * a  + 35 * b  =  3281

 

25 * a + 35 * (30 - a)  =  3281

 

25a + 35 * 30 - 35a  =  3281

 

25a - 35a  =  3281 - 35 * 30

 

a(25 - 35)  =  3281 - 35 * 30

 

a  =  (3281 - 35 * 30) / (25 - 35)

 

a  =  19

 

So...he started with  19  ants of species A.

After  5 days, he will have  2* 19  =  608 ants of species A.

 Sep 28, 2017
edited by hectictar  Sep 29, 2017
 #1
avatar+9460 
+3
Best Answer

Let  a  be the number of species A ants he had to begin with.

Let  b  be the number of species B ants he had to begin with.

 

On day 0 there are  a + b ants.

On day 1 there are  2a + 3b  ants.

On day 2 there are  2 * 2a + 3 * 3b  ants.

On day 3 there are  2 * 2 * 2 * a + 3 * 3 * 3 * b  ants.

On day 4 there are  24 * a + 34 * b  ants.

On day n there are  2n * a + 3n * b

So...

On day 5 there are 25 * a + 35 * b

 

a + b  =  30     →     b = 30 - a

 

25 * a  + 35 * b  =  3281

 

25 * a + 35 * (30 - a)  =  3281

 

25a + 35 * 30 - 35a  =  3281

 

25a - 35a  =  3281 - 35 * 30

 

a(25 - 35)  =  3281 - 35 * 30

 

a  =  (3281 - 35 * 30) / (25 - 35)

 

a  =  19

 

So...he started with  19  ants of species A.

After  5 days, he will have  2* 19  =  608 ants of species A.

hectictar Sep 28, 2017
edited by hectictar  Sep 29, 2017
 #2
avatar+128090 
+1

Very nice, hectictar.....!!!!!

 

 

 

cool cool cool

 Sep 28, 2017
 #3
avatar+9460 
+1

Yeaa!! I got it right!!!!!!!!!!! laughlaughlaughlaugh

hectictar  Sep 28, 2017

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