Jack Frost Probability!

Question

Jack Frost has a lot of reindeer and snowbirdsmon his ranch at the North Pole. He planned to give them each a new set of boots and a warm hat for winter. He ordered 24 hats and 38 pairs of boots. How many reindeer were on Jack's ranch at the North Pole?___How many snowbirds were there?___

Remember: Probalility is always written as a fraction! Please show it like this:6/36.etc! Resond imeditaly!!

Answer 1

The 24 hats tell us that there are 24 total animals, so Reindeer + Snowbirds = 24 or R + S = 24.

The 38 pairs of boots. . .  Reindeer have 2 pairs of legs and snowbirds have 1 pair of legs, so 2R + S = 38.

Now we have two equations:

2R + S = 38

R + S = 24

Let's write that first equation like this:

R + R + S = 38

But since R + S = 24 we can do this:

R + 24 = 38

R + 24 - 24 = 38 - 24

R = 14

There are 14 reindeer.

But since R + S = 24 we can do this:

14 + S = 24

14 - 14 + S = 24 - 14

S = 10

There are 10 snowbirds.

Answer:  There were 10 snowbirds.

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Check:

14 reindeer and 10 snowbirds would need 14 + 10 = 24 hats.  Good.

14 reindeer and 10 snowbirds would need 14 * 2 + 10 = 28 + 10 = 38 pairs of boots.  Good.