Question

There are 22 animals in the barn. Some are ducks and some are oxen. There are 72 legs in all.

How many of each animal are there?

Answer 1

• 14 oxen
• 8 ducks

Explanation:

Let x represent the number of oxen. Then the number of ducks is 22-x and the number of legs is ...

4x +2(22 -x) = 72

2x +44 = 72 . . . . . . . simplify

x +22 = 36 . . . . . . divide by 2

x = 14 . . . . . . . . . subtract 22; the number of oxen

22-x = 8 . . . . . the number of ducks

There are 8 ducks and 14 oxen in the barn.