Afarmer sees 56 of his cows out of the barn. he knows that he has 83 cows altogether. let c represent the number of cows still in the barn. could c = 33? c + 33 = 56; yes 56 + c = 83; no 83 + c = 56; no 56 + 83 = c; no

No, the number of cows in the barn is 27. You can get this number by subtracting the 83 cows he has from the 56 that are out of the barn.

83 - 56 = 27

83 minus 56 is 27 right? So c represents 27 So when you said could c equal  33 it couldn't be because 83 minus 56 would represent how many cows are in the barn so 27 = c