Expert: Scott A Wilson - 9/5/2010

Question
Sasha researched the size of 2 zoos.  The zoo in the north is almost twice as large as the zoo in the south.  The zoo in the south has 200 fewer than twice the number of animals as the north zoo.  How many animals per acre does each zoo have.

Zoo                  Acres           # of animals
North                 64                   ?
South                 35                  3800

I am trying to figure out the 2 step equation to get the number of animals in the North zoo.  

Answer
If the South zoo has 200 fewer than twice the number in the North,
let x be in the north.  The problem states that that is the number is doubled and 200 subtracted, the answer is 3800.

This says that 2x - 200 = 3800.
Add 200 to both sices and divide by 2.

Solve this and x can be found.

Once you have x, divide by the number of acres in the north and that will give the animals per acre in the north.