The Parade of Legs

This problem is adapted from Van De Walle, John (1994), Elementary School Mathematics (2^nd Ed.), NY: Longman, pages 40 - 41

Mary looked out of her farmhouse window and saw a group of pigeons and donkeys passing by. She counted all the legs of the pigeons and donkeys and found that the total number of legs add up to 66. How many of each kind of animals (pigeons and donkeys) passed by her window if the total number of animals is 24?

Number of Donkeys:
Number of Pigeons:

How to Use:

1. Try working on a solution yourself before jumping to the solution strategies.
   
   
2. Print this page and use a correction pen to "white-out" the links that name the different solution strategies.
   
   
3. Have your child work out a solution. Then ask if he could solve the problem in another way. After he had done it, ask him to solve it again but in another way. If he is stuck, prompt him as to what should be the next step. At the end of the whole exercise, show him (and explain, if necessary) the different strategies in solving the problem ... use the links below.

Interactive Math Worksheets
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