crayola asked:
On Christmas, families are displaying figurines in a nativity scene. Around the manger you count the numbers of legs(from the figurines). Some represent animals others are from characters of different people. You count forty-six legs and there are 15 heads. You need to determine how many humans characters and how many animal figures are displayed around the manger of your nativity scene.
On Christmas, families are displaying figurines in a nativity scene. Around the manger you count the numbers of legs(from the figurines). Some represent animals others are from characters of different people. You count forty-six legs and there are 15 heads. You need to determine how many humans characters and how many animal figures are displayed around the manger of your nativity scene.
I already know that humans have 2 feet and animals have 4
how can i figure out how many human characters and animals are displayed?
Posted under Mathematics
This post was written by hummelgirl on September 24, 2009
15 human heads = 30 legs
have to account for 46 – 30 = 16 extra legs
animals have 4 legs so divide 16 by 2 to get 8
so there are 8 animals and 7 humans
(8*4 + 7*2 = 32 + 14 = 46)
a = # of animals
h = # of humans
there are 15 heads
1) a + h = 15
a = 15 – h
You count forty-six legs
2) 4a + 2h = 46
4(15 – h) + 2h = 46 {substitute for a from equation 1}
60 – 4h + 2h = 46
- 2h = – 14
h = 7
a = 15 – 7 = 8