Lizzy: Jason is tired of the neighborhood animals raiding his trash. He pepper-sprays some raccoons and 6 times as many squirrels. If he pepper-sprays 84 animals total, how many raccoons does he pepper-spray?.
Me: Hmmm, let me think. I think this is the detailed solution:
Let r be the number of raccoons Jason pepper - sprays and s be the number of squirrels. We know that r + s = 84 and s = 6r. Substituting the second equation into the first equation, we get r + 6r = 84. Combining like terms, we get 7r = 84. Dividing both sides by 7, we get r = 12. Final answer: 12.