Question

Which expression could be used to solve this problem? Each chicken lays 2 eggs and there were 42 eggs in the hen house. How many chickens are there?

Answer 1

Suppose the number of chickens in the house= a.

And, each chicken lays 2 eggs .  

So, the no. of eggs laid by the chicken is 2xa= 2a.

Now, the no. of eggs in the house= 42.

So, as per the equation,  

2a= 42.

a= 42/2= 21.

So, the number of chickens in the house = a= 21.