Question

In one year, a bird farm sold 375 total chickens. of these, there were 37 more Cornish hens than turkeys. How many Cornish hens and how many turkeys were sold?

Answer 1

Answer:

206 Cornish hens

169 turkeys

Step-by-step explanation:

Let c represent the number of Cornish hens sold. Then c-37 is the number of turkeys sold. The total sales would be ...

... c + (c-37) = 375

... 2c = 412 . . . . collect terms, add 37

... c = 206 . . . . Cornish hens sold

... (c-37) = 169 . . . turkeys sold

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Comment on this type of problem

Note that the solution to this problem is that the larger number (number of cornish hens) is half the sum of the total and the difference: (375+37)/2 = 206. This is the general solution for this type of "sum and difference" problem.

The larger contributor is half the total plus half the difference; the smaller contributor is half the total minus half the difference.

Cornish hens = (1/2)(375 +37) = 206

Turkeys = (1/2)(375 -37) = 169