Guess and check - Math Central

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Question from Laura, a student:

Hello,
I'm having problems with a guess and check table.
I don't know what to do, and am confused with the question.
If you can please answer ASAP. I don't want a 0 for this assignment
Here is the problem-
There is a game at the fair in which you toss balls into bowls to win fish. There are 52 bowls. The larger bows contain five fish, and the smaller ones contain three fish. If there are 202 fish total, how many bowls of each size are there?
Once again I would appreciate it if you answered ASAP. So I don't get a 0.
Thank you very much,
Laura

Laura,

You have to start somewhere so suppose there are 26 large and 26 small bowls. If this is true then there are 5 × 26 + 3 × 26 = 208 fish. That's slightly too large so my guess had too many large bowls. My next guess would then be 25 large bowls and 27 small bowls. How many fish does that give?

Penny

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