At the Natural History museum Paula saw 5 times as many beetles as spiders. She saw 6 more spiders than caterpillars. If Paula saw 50 insects and spiders, how many of each kind did she see?

2 answers

two house spiders caught 14 flies in theirrespective webs over a week's time. the larger spider caught 2 more flies than the smaller spider.
S+5s+s-6=50
S+5s+s=56
7s=56
S=8

So Paula saw 8 spiders, 40 beetles, and 2 caterpillars