Thread: I'm so lost and need help with this problem!

Originally Posted by ladyk

Here's the question:

Aisha’s first summer job
requires her to travel downtown. She is
interested in finding out how most
people get to work each day, so she finds
the results of an online survey.
According to the survey below, what
percent of the workers walk to work?


Ok here is the info about how to reach the answer:

Drive Alone- 7,862,918
Carpool- 1,120,982
Take public Transit-144,959
Walk- 138,496
Other means- 149,641
Work At Home- 346,626

I have no clue how to find the answer. Please help.

(number of people who walk to work / total number of people) x100

First, let's remember what "percent" means.
When you look at, say, 66% (I'm pretty sure that that's not the right answer, I just picked it), that means, out of 100 people, you have 66 of them.
Another way to look at percent is like a fraction. 66%=66/100
100 is the total, and 66 is the number of people who walk.

So, if percent is like a fraction, let's make a fraction.
How many people are there in total?
How many walk to work?

There are 9,736,622 people total, and 138,496 of them walk to work.

All right, that's the first step.
The second is to make a fraction.
We want the top to be the people we want (that is, the people who walk to work), and the bottom is everybody (that is, the total)
Then, once you have a fraction, you turn it into a decimal number.
An example: 7/20=.35
The last step is to multiply by 100.
7/20=.35=35%
And that is it!

So the fraction would be what? 138,496 and 9,736,622? Or am I supposed to do something that reduces that so that it's blank and 100?

Originally Posted by ladyk

So the fraction would be what? 138,496 and 9,736,622? Or am I supposed to do something that reduces that so that it's blank and 100?

Read post #2.

Our stretchy friend is right, actually.
And so was I, but I tried to explain too much.
Get a calculator out.
Type in 138,496 divided by 9,736,622, then multiply by 100.
That is it.

I gotcha. I just wanted to be sure.

Sooo, I got 001.4224200

Hold on, I'm getting my calculator out too! lol

Yep.
So, 1.42242% of people walk to work.
And that's it!

That was easier than I thought. Thanks alot for both of y'alls help. Finding this forum was such a blessing.

It's a blessing for me too.
I love helping people, and this is just the place to do it!

Remember to use the Thanks button to thank people for helping.

I just went thanks crazy.

OK, I'll stop posting in here, so I can help you in the other thread.