College

Choose the mathematical sentence that most accurately expresses the information in the problem and would be most helpful in solving it.

In a certain herd of 24 elephants, there are 13 males. How many females are there?

A. [tex]f + 13 = 24[/tex]
B. [tex]f = 24 + 13[/tex]
C. [tex]f - 24 = 13[/tex]
D. [tex]f + 24 = 13[/tex]
E. [tex]f - 13 = 24[/tex]
F. [tex]f + 13 + 24[/tex]

Answer :

To solve the problem of finding out how many female elephants there are in the herd, we first need to understand the information given:

- The total number of elephants in the herd is 24.
- There are 13 male elephants in the herd.

We want to find out how many female elephants are in this herd. Let's use a simple equation to express this situation mathematically.

From the total number of elephants (24), if we subtract the number of male elephants (13), we'll find the number of female elephants. We can write this as:

[tex]\[ \text{Number of females} + \text{Number of males} = \text{Total elephants} \][/tex]

Replacing the words with numbers and a letter for females:

[tex]\[ f + 13 = 24 \][/tex]

This equation (Option A: [tex]\( f + 13 = 24 \)[/tex]) is the one that most accurately represents the problem. To find the number of female elephants, we solve for [tex]\( f \)[/tex] by subtracting 13 from both sides of the equation:

[tex]\[ f = 24 - 13 \][/tex]

By performing this calculation, we find that [tex]\( f = 11 \)[/tex].

Therefore, there are 11 female elephants in the herd.