52 legs, there are 16 animals, how many chickens and pigs are there
You can solve this with algebra. The following solution can be done mentally by a 5th grade student.
Start with 16 pigs, that gives 64 lesg.
Each pig changed for a chicken reduces 2 legs, and we need to reduce 64-52=12 legs.
So change 6 pigs for chickens to get 10 pigs and 6 chickens.
To determine the number of chickens and pigs, we need to set up a system of equations based on the given information.
Let's assume there are x chickens and y pigs.
Chickens have 2 legs each, so the total number of chicken legs can be calculated as 2x.
Pigs have 4 legs each, so the total number of pig legs can be calculated as 4y.
According to the problem, there are 16 animals in total. Therefore, we can write the equation:
x + y = 16 -- Equation 1
Also, the total number of legs is given as 52. So we can write another equation:
2x + 4y = 52 -- Equation 2
Now, we have a system of two equations with two variables. We can solve this system to find the values of x and y.
First, let's solve Equation 1 for x:
x = 16 - y
Substitute this value of x in Equation 2:
2(16 - y) + 4y = 52
Expanding the equation:
32 - 2y + 4y = 52
Combining like terms:
2y = 52 - 32
2y = 20
Divide both sides by 2:
y = 10
Now, substitute the value of y back into Equation 1 to solve for x:
x + 10 = 16
x = 16 - 10
x = 6
So, there are 6 chickens and 10 pigs.