Provide a detailed, step-by-step explanation on how to solve this problem. make sure to include all the steps (in words). there are 24 heads and 80 feet. how many pigs and how many chickens are there?

There's a relatively easy way to solve problems of this nature. You determine the contribution made if the only contributor is the one that contributes the least.

A chicken has the least number of feet, so 24 chickens will contribute 48 feet.

Now, you consider the change in contribution made by substituting a larger contributor. Each pig that replaces a chicken will add 2 feet to the total.

Consider how many feet need to be added, and thus how many larger contributors are needed. 80 -48 = 32 feet need to be added, so 32/2 = 16 of the animals need to be pigs.

There are 16 pigs and 8 chickens.