+44 There are 15 animals in a barn. These animals are horses and chickens. There are 44 legs in all. Which system of equations represents the situtaion?
A. 4x+2y=15, x+y=44
B. x=2y+44, 4x=y+15
C. 2x-4y=44, x-y=15
D. x-y=15, 4x+2y=44
x + y = 15 the number of chickens and horses
4x+2y = 44
I would say A but it appears incorrectly entered as an answer
or maybe D if it were x+y = 15
Let x be the number of animals with 4 legs
and y be the number of animals with 2 legs
So, 4 legs on x animals
plus 2 legs on y animals expressed as 4x + 2y = 44
total number of animals expressed as x + y = 15
y = 15 – x so sub into 1st equation 4(x) + 2(15 – x) = 44
4x + 30 – 2x = 44
2x = 14
x = 7 animals with 4 legs, i.e., horses
sub 7 for x 7 + y = 15
y = 8 animals with 2 legs, i.e., chickens
Check
7 horses have 28 legs
8 chickens have 16 legs
total legs 44 legs
