a bag of colored candles contains 18 red candles and 27 blue candles. what percent of the candles are red?

Question

a bag of colored candles contains 18 red candles and 27 blue candles. what percent of the candles are red?

Answer 1

First figure out how many candles you have total 

 

18 + 27 = 45

 

Then divide the number of red candles by the total number of candles

 

18/45= 0.4

 

To get a percentage from a decimal, you move the decimal point 2 units to the right

 

0.4 =40%

 

Therefore 40% of the candles are red

Answer 2

Whenever you read a "percent" question, translate the words directly into a math expression.  Then you are only keeping track of the bookkeeping, and no longer need to doubt your accuracy!

 

First, record the data:

 

      18 RED   +    27 BLUE   =  45 TOTAL CANDLES

 

Then, translate the question:   What percent of the candles are red?

 

      "What" becomes your variable (x)

 

      Per Cent always means you just divide by 100 because "per cent" means "divide by 100"

 

      Then you can translate the question as follows:

 

      "What percent"  becomes the fraction:     ( x / 100)

                                                             

 

 

       "of" means multiply, therefore:       (x / 100) *

 

       "the candles" means the total candles, therefore:      (x/100) * (TOTAL)

 

       "are" shows you where to put the equal sign:            (x/100) * (TOTAL) = 

 

       Now you're ready for the final word, "RED":              (x / 100) * (TOTAL) = (RED)

 

       Because you already know the TOTAL candles, and how many are RED, now you can solve this by solving for x.

 

Expression to solve:

 

       ( x / 100 )  *  ( 45 ) = ( 18 )

 

Solve for x:

 

         ( x / 100 ) * (45)  =  (18)

 

         Divide both sides by 45

 

               ( x / 100 ) * (45/45)  = (18/45)

 

         Multiply both sides by 100

 

               (x)    =   (18 / 45) * 100

 

               (x)    =    (2 / 5)  * 100

 

                x      =    40 Percent

       

Answer 3

You need to solve for x in the following:

18/(18+27)= x/100

So we get

x=1800/45=40

and so 40 percent of the candles are red.