Q45. NL Consortium Grp2 2016 paper

[Mumzzpet]

Hi All,

Can you please advise how to solve these kind of questions?

A bird has 2 legs, a cat has 4 legs, an insect has 6 legs and a spider has 8 legs.
Claire looks at some animals and counts all their legs.
She counts 38 legs.
There are twice as many birds as spiders and twice as many cats as insects.
How many of each type of animal can she see?

[Guest55]

A bird has 2 legs, a cat has 4 legs, an insect has 6 legs and a spider has 8 legs.
Claire looks at some animals and counts all their legs.
She counts 38 legs.
There are twice as many birds as spiders and twice as many cats as insects.
How many of each type of animal can she see?

OK I'd use trial and improvement.

twice as many birds as spiders - try 2 birds, 1 spider = 4 + 8 = 12

twice as many cats as insects - try 2 cats, 1 insect = 8 + 6 = 14

Now we need 38 legs so how can we combine '12' and '14' to get 38? Try that and if you can't sort it then post again.

[Mumzzpet]

Oh great ! Thanks Guest55!