One day, a person went to a horse racing area. Instead of counting the number of humans an horses, he conuted 74 heads and 196 legs. How many humans and horses were there?

A

37 humans and 98 horses

B

24 horses and 50 humans

C

31 horses and 74 humans

D

24 humans and 50 horses

Verified Answer :

x = the number of humans and y = the number of horses.

x+y=74
2x+4y=196

Because the number of humans and horses together is 74, and the total number of legs (2 per every human, x, and 4 per every horse, y) is 196.  Then, just use elimination to solve.

\(-2(x+y=74)\\2x+4y=196\\\\-2x-2y=-148\\2x+4y=196\\\\2y=48\\y=24\)

So, now that you have y, you can plug it into the first equation to find x:

\(x+y=74\\x+24=74\\x=50\)

So, x = 50 and y = 24, so there are 50 humans and 24 horses.
The correct answer is B.