Old MacDonald has 100 chickens and goats in the barnyard. Altogether, there are 278 feet. How many chickens and how many goats are in the barnyard? There are \( \square \) chickens and \( \square \) goats in the barnyard.

This classic problem can be solved using a system of equations! Let’s denote the number of chickens as \( C \) and the number of goats as \( G \). You know that there are 100 animals in total, so you can set up the first equation as \( C + G = 100 \). Since chickens have 2 feet and goats have 4 feet, you can set up the second equation based on the total number of feet: \( 2C + 4G = 278 \). Solving this duo gives you the number of each animal—easy peasy! When you simplify this, you can rework the first equation to express \( G \) in terms of \( C \): \( G = 100 - C \). Plug that into the second equation and solve for \( C \). You’ll find there are 69 chickens and 31 goats strutting their stuff! Now Old MacDonald can sing his song with pride!