A visitor to the Winchester Zoo asked the zookeeper how many vultures and how many cows were in the zoo.
The zookeeper, a retired math teacher at the local high school, replied; "There are 45 heads and 150 feet."
How many vultures and cows are at the zoo?
Solution:
There are 30 cows and 15 vultures at the Winchester Zoo.
Let C = the number of cows
and V = the number of vultures.
From the total number of feet, we know that
V(2 feet/bird) + C(4 feet/cow) = 150 or
2V + 4C = 150
The total number of creatures in the zoo is
V + C = 45, so
V = 45 - C.
Now we can substitute this equation into the feet
equation to obtain:
2(45 - C) + 4C = 150
90 - 2C + 4C = 150
2C = 60
C = 30 Cows and V = 45 - 30 = 15 Vultures
Correctly solved by:
| 1. Court Pifer | Winchester, VA |
| 2. Chris Moats | Winchester, VA |
| 3. Brandon Jaycox | Winchester, VA |
| 4. Jia Ran | Rome, Italy |
| 5. Michael Webber | Winchester, VA |
| 6. Jon Pence | Winchester, VA |
| 7. Chip Crawford | Winchester, VA |
| 8. Si Schiavone | Winchester, VA |
| 9. Laura Webb | Winchester, VA |
| 10. Tom Marino | Winchester, VA |