team of scientists found that there were 4 oak trees for every 10 pine trees. How many oak trees were there if they counted 36 more pine than oak?
One method is to use equivalent fractions until you find a difference of 36.
For instance 4/10 = 8/20 and the difference between 20 and 8 is 12.
4/10=12/30 and the difference between 30 and 12 is 18.
4/10=16/40 and the difference is 24... etc
To find the number of oak trees, we need to set up equations based on the information given. Let's represent the number of oak trees as "o" and the number of pine trees as "p."
We are given that there are 4 oak trees for every 10 pine trees, which can be expressed as:
o/p = 4/10
We are also given that there were 36 more pine trees than oak trees, which can be expressed as:
p = o + 36
To solve this system of equations, we can substitute the value of "p" from the second equation into the first equation:
o/(o + 36) = 4/10
Next, we can cross-multiply to solve for "o":
10o = 4(o + 36)
10o = 4o + 144
10o - 4o = 144
6o = 144
Dividing both sides by 6, we get:
o = 144/6
o = 24
Therefore, there were 24 oak trees.