I need assistance and understanding with this percentage question.

Question

On a rainy day, a senior officer found that 9 of his 50 officers reported to work. What percentage of his officers was ABSENT?

 

I already have the answer key in my state exam book and it provides that the answer is 82% but I'm obfuscated that this is the answer. I would like a brief but very understandable explanation and method how this came to be. Please and thank you!

 

 

Answer 1

If only 9 out of 50 officers reported to work, then we can use this fact to find out how many did not report to work.

 

50 - 9 = 41

 

41 officers were absent. To represent this as a percentage that would be 41/50 or 0.82, 82%.