Question

You have some turtles and some pelicans. Together there are 114 legs and a total of 34 animals. How many of each animal are there? Please help if answer before 8/17/18 to get brainliest

Answer 1

Let t and p represent the numbers of turtles and pelicans, respectively.

... 2p + 4t = 114 . . . . . . . the number of legs is 114

... p + t = 34 . . . . . . . . . the number of animals is 34

Divide the first equation by 2 and subtract the second.

... (2p +4t)/2 - (p +t) = (114)/2 - 34

... t = 23 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . simplify

Then p = 34 - t = 11

There are 11 pelicans and 23 turtles.

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You can get to the same answer by considering the number of legs you would have if all the animals were pelicans. That would be 34*2 = 68. The is 46 fewer legs than there actually are. Each turtle that replaces one of those 34 pelicans adds 2 legs to the total, so to add 46 legs, we must replace 46/2 = 23 pelicans with turtles. That is, there are 23 turtles and 11 pelicans.