In a clothing factory, 28% of the employees are female. There are 672 female employees. How many employees are there in total?

Question

i have this question and i dont know how to figure it out for y maths test tomorrow

 

Answer 1

This is a very simple "percent of" problem.  Remember that "of" means "multiply" and "are" means "=" when we translate words to math.
 
When possible, assign a variable to the value that the problem asks you to find.  So, let X be the total number of employees that work in the clothing factory.
 
"28% of the employees are female. There are 672 female employees."   means that
        28% * X  = 672             [try to read the words as you read the math equation]
 
For some reason, people set this up in many other ways, but you try to stick to the words of the problem.
 
Now, the easy math (solve for X):
         (28/100)*X =672             [percent can be written as a ratio (fraction of 100)
                                                          or a decimal like 0.28]
            X = 672*(100/28)       [multiply both sides by (100/28) to isolate X]
            X = 2400                  [note: we don't need to calculate the number of male employees,
                                                       so why do we?]

Answer 2

28%      of        employees          are              female

0.28       ·                 E                 =                672

0.28E = 672         divide both sides by 0.28

E = 2400

 

The factory has 2400 empoyess.

Answer 3

If 28% are female, then the rest are male which is 72% for the entire employee count.

 

Lets set a proportion.

 

Ratio of female = ratio of male

 

(number of female) / (% female) = (number of male) / (% of male)

 

Since we know the percent of female, percent of male, and number of female, we can solve for the number of male.

 

 

672 / 28 = y / 72

 

 

Cross-multiply.

 

28y = 48384

 

 

Divide both sides of the equation by 28.

 

y = 1728

 

 

There are 1728 male employees.   Add this number to the amount of female employees.

 

 

Total number of employees = 672 + 1728

 

 

 

Answer 4

I can show you the way.