Ishmael was monitoring whales out at sea for conservation purposes. Each time he takes a trip to sea, he sees a different group of whales. On his first trip, he counts 28 male whales and twice as many female whales. On his second trip, he sees 8 baby whales, each travelling with their parents. On his third trip, he counts half as many male whales as the first trip and the same number of female whales as on the first trip. In total, how many whales were out at sea during Ishmael’s monitoring?
How many female whales does Ishmael see on the first trip? ** On the first trip, Ishmael sees 28 male whales * 2 = <<28*2=56>>56 female whales.
How many whales does Ishmael see on the first trip? ** So in total, he sees 28 male whales + 56 female whales = <<28+56=84>>84 whales on the first trip.
How many whales does each baby whale travel with? ** On the second trip, each baby whale travels with its parents which means it travels in a group of 1 baby whale + 2 parents = <<1+2=3>>3 whales/baby whale.
How many whales are on the second trip? ** This means there are 8 baby whales * 3 whales/baby whale = <<8*3=24>>24 whales on the second trip.
How many male whales are there on the third trip? ** On the third trip, there are half as many male whales as there were on the first trip, so there must be 28 male whales / 2 = <<28/2=14>>14 male whales.
How many whales are there on the third trip? ** Adding this to the female whales means he saws 14 males whales + 56 female whales = <<14+56=70>>70 whales on the third trip.
How many whales were out at sea during Ishmael’s monitoring? ** In total, Ishmael saw 84 + 24 + 70 = <<84+24+70=178>>178 whales across the three trips.
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