Every month we will give you a math/statistics brain teaser that lets you test your knowledge with a fun problem.

This Month's Challenge: Bugs in the attic

Jack's Dad decided it was time to do some cleaning in the attic. When he went into the kitchen, he found Jack.

"Dad, where had you been?" asked Jack.

"I had been to the attic, my son," replied Dad. "And do you know what I saw there? There was a big web with 24 spiders and flies on it."

"How many spiders were there?" asked the little boy with curiosity.

"Well, there were a total of 154 legs on the web," answered Dad with a smile. "Now you can find out how many spiders were there by yourself. Can't you?"

Can you help the little boy find out how many spiders were on the web in the attic?

Click here for answer!

The Answer!

Assuming 6 legs for each insect, 24 insects will have 144 legs.

But, there are 154 - 144 = 10 extra legs.

It is important to note that spiders have 8 legs and flies have 6 legs. So, there are 2 extra legs per spider on the web.

Thus, the 10 extra legs belong to 5 spiders.

Alternative Solution through Equations:

Let s be the number of spiders and f be the number of flies. Then,

s + f = 24; and
8s + 6f = 154.

On solving the above two equations, we get

8s + 6 (24 - s) = 154; or
2s = 154 - (6 x 24).

Thus, s = 5.

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