Answer:
Step-by-step explanation:
The equation that we are trying to solve is basically this one:
dogs + cats = 90
But there are too many unknowns. We have only 1 equation, therefore, we can only have 1 unknown. We are told that for every 11 dogs, there are 4 cats. Let's figure out, then, the number of dogs per 1 cat. We do this by dividing.
11/4 = 2.75 This means that for every 1 cat, there are 2.75 the number of dogs. Now we have something we can work with.
cats: c
dogs: 2.75c
Check this so we know we are doing it right. If we replace c with the number 4, and then multiply that by 2.75, we find that the number of dogs is 11 for every 4 cats. So we can replace the dogs with 2.75c:
2.75c + c = 90 and
3.75c = 90 so
c = 24. That means that there are 24 cats at the shelter (which is 24 too many, if you ask me).
