Chris have 5 cats and dogs, how many cats does he have?

Question

I'm confused on it because I don't know if he have 5 cats and 5 dogs or just 5 all together.

Answer 1

I think they are looking for a simple algebra equation here, and I think the 5 means all the animals together.

So it would be 5 animals, minus the number of dogs ("d") equals the number of cats ("c"), and your equation would be:

5 - d = c

The idea then would be to try different values for d and see what answer you come up with for c. Or, put in different values for c and see what you come up with for d. Here's a little chart for a example.

5 - d = c

_________

5 - 3 = ?

5 - 1 = ?

5 - ? = 1

5 - 4 = ?

5 - ? = 3

etc.

Hope this helps!

Matt in New York