Exotic Animals Project
Name: score: 50
Write down necessary steps and answers clearly and legibly to
Math Department
earn full credit. Complete this project by yourself.
You may write down your steps and answers on a piece of paper and scan it into a pdf file
or you may use a software such as Microsoft word to type the steps and answers. Your
submission must be a pdf file. No credit and no extra time will be given when your work
is not legible or your file is corrupted.
The following question is modified from Carl Stitz and Jeff Zeager’s Precalculus.
Alexander’s Exotic Animal Rescue houses snakes, frogs, and scorpions. When asked
how many animals of each kind he boards, Daniel answered: ‘We board 45 total animals,
and I am responsible for each of their 108 legs and 32 tails.’ (Recall: snakes have no
legs and one tail, frogs have 4 legs and no tail, and scorpions have 8 legs and one tail.)
Your goal is to find the number of each animal the Rescue boards by answering the
following questions.
1. Use a variable to represent the number of each of the 3 animals. Write down what each
variable represents.
2. Write down the system of 3 linear equations.
3. Write down the corresponding augmented matrix.
4. Solve the same system using matrices. Be sure to use correct notations and write down
all necessary steps. No credit will be given if you use other techniques!
5. State your answers in a complete sentence.
6. This project is worth a lot of points. What do you do to ensure that your answers are
correct? Write at least 150 words to convince your family that your answers are correct.
Indicate how many words you write.
Intermediate Algebra Spring 2018 Page 1 © 2018 Shane Tang
