Question

The ninth grade class has 17 more girls than boys. There are 431 in all. How many boys are there? How many girls are there?

Answer 1

224 girls

Explanation:

Method 1: You can use an equation. The number of boys is less than the number of girls, so call that `x`

Let `x` be the number of boys, then the number of girls is `x + 17`
Altogether there are 431.

`x + x + 17 = 431`
`2x = 431 - 17`
`2x = 414`
`x = 207 " this is the number of boys"`

There are 207 + 172 = 224 girls.

Method 2: Consider that the number of boys and girls are the same, apart from the 17. If we get the difference of 17 out of the way first, then the total can be divided by 2.
`431 - 17 = 414.`
`414 ÷ 2 = 207`

Boys: 207 Girls: 207 + 17 = 224 (the initial difference).