How to find a proportion

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SSAT Elementary Level Quantitative › How to find a proportion

Questions 1 - 10
1

What is of ?

Explanation

of is calculated by multiplying by .

2

Megan's teacher says that if Megan wants to join the girl's basketball team, she has to have at least of this quarter's homework turned in. If there have been assignments so far this quarter, how many of these does Megan have to have turned in so that she can join the team?

Explanation

In order to solve this problem, we need to make a ratio. Megan's teacher says she needs to have turned in 90% of her homework. First we need to change 90% into a fraction:

Using this information, we need to fill in the following ratio to find out how many assignments Megan needs to have turned in to be at 90% completion:

To solve this ratio, we need to cross multiply.

Now we have an equation to solve.

If we divide both sides by 100, we are left with our final answer.

Megan must have at least 45 assignments turned in if she wants to join the basketball team.

3

Solve:

Explanation

Solve by cross multipling the two fractions.

Divide by on both sides.

4

Explanation

5

A sweater is on sale for . What percentage of the original price has been discounted for the sale?

Explanation

Set up a proportion of the new price to the old price to see how they relate.

of the original price

Subtract from to find the amount that was discounted.

Convert to a decimal by multiplying both the top and bottom of the fraction by , then convert to a percentage.

, which is equivalent to or

6

What is of ?

Explanation

of is calculated by multiplying . by .

7

Brad is paid per hour at his current job. If a promotion would increase Brad's pay by , what would Brad make per hour after a promotion?

per hour

Explanation

To find of Brad's pay, multiply it by (since is the original number and is twice that). , which is the amount of the increase to Brad's pay. Add this increase to the original pay to get the new pay: per hour.

8

Solve for y:

Explanation

Multiply both sides by 8 to yield:

Therefore:

Therefore:

9

If I have 6 red marbles and 5 blue marbles, what proportion of the marbles are red.

Explanation

To find a proportion, simply divide what you desire by the total.

In this problem the desired is the number of red marbles and the total is all of the marbels.

Thus,

10

Solve for x:

Explanation

Multiply both sides by 3 to yield:

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