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How many more chickens were there in the farm?

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by Musicat » Sun May 15, 2016 10:52 pm
A poultry farm has only chickens and pigs. When the manager of the poultry counted the heads of the stock in the farm, the number totalled up to 200. However, when the number of legs was counted, the number totalled up to 540. How many more chickens were there in the farm? Note: Each pig had 4 legs and each chicken had 2 legs.

A 70
B 120
C 60
D 130
E 80

OA: C
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Source: — Problem Solving |

by GMATGuruNY » Mon May 16, 2016 2:48 am
Musicat wrote:A poultry farm has only chickens and pigs. When the manager of the poultry counted the heads of the stock in the farm, the number totalled up to 200. However, when the number of legs was counted, the number totalled up to 540. How many more chickens were there in the farm? Note: Each pig had 4 legs and each chicken had 2 legs.

A 70
B 120
C 60
D 130
E 80
The question stem seems to be asking the following:
What was the difference between the number of chickens and the number of pigs?

When the manager of the poultry counted the heads of the stock in the farm, the number totalled up to 200.
C + P = 200.

However, when the number of legs was counted, the number totalled up to 540.
Since each chicken has 2 legs and each pig has 4 legs, we get:
2C + 4P = 540
C + 2P = 270.

Subtracting the red equation from the blue equation, we get:
(C+2P) - (C+P) = 270-200
P = 70.

Since P=70 and C+P=200, C=130.
Thus:
C-P = 130-70 = 60.

The correct answer is C.
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