Question

They are a combined total of 520 horses and chickens on a farm, and they have a total of 1412 legs. How many horses and how many chickens are ther.

Answer 1

186 bourses and 336 chickens

Answer 2

186 horses and 334 chickens

Explanation:

Let c be the amount of chickens and h be the amount of horses then....

c+h=520

2c+4h=1412

Note that chickens have 2 legs and horses have 4 legs

We can simplify the second equation by dividing everything by 2

c+2h=706

c+h=520

Solve using elimination...subtract the second equation from the first equation

h=186

c+186=520

Subtract 186 from both sides

c=334

There are 186 horses and 334 chickens