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 Question from Shaneaya, a student: Keikio spent the day bird watching and counted 34 more birds in the morning than in the afternoon. If she counted a total of 76 birds, how many birds did she count in the afternoon?

Hi Shaneaya,

You know that this is going to involve some algebra and what you are asked is "How many birds did she count in the afternoon?" so you might begin by saying

Let $x$ be the number of birds she counted in the afternoon.

Then you need to ask "How many birds did she count in the morning?" Once you know this you can add the number of birds she counted in the morning to the number of birds she counted in the afternoon, set this equal to 76 and solve for $x.$

Another way to approach this problem is to say

Let $b$ be the number of birds she counted in the Morning.

She counted 34 more birds in the afternoon than in the morning so how many did she count in the afternoon? The sum of the number of birds she counted in the morning and the number of birds she counted in the afternoon is 76. This is an equation you can solve for $b.$ Add 34 to this number to determine the number of birds she counted in the afternoon.

Penny

Math Central is supported by the University of Regina and The Pacific Institute for the Mathematical Sciences.