For a summer job, Lucy is in charge of chickens and sheep. There are 16 animals total. The number of chickens, y, is 4 less than the number of sheep, x. Which ordered pair (x, y) represents the number of chickens and sheep?

Let x be the number of sheep and y the number of chickens. Together they total 16, so x + y = 16, and the chickens are 4 fewer than the sheep, so y = x − 4. Choice D gives x = 10 sheep and y = 6 chickens: 10 + 6 = 16, and 6 is 4 less than 10. Thus the ordered pair is (10, 6), meaning (sheep, chickens).

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