34 students in mr jones math class passed the final exam. There are 40 students in his class total. What percent of students passed?

Question

Er students in mr. jones math class passed the final exam. There are 40 students in his class total. What percent of students passed?

Answer 1

A percent is a ratio that compares a number to 100. For this situation, 34 out of 40 students passed the final exam.

We need to find an equivalent ratio with a denominator of 100 to determine the percent:

34 = x

40 100

Note that 34/40 is equivalent to 17/20. We can write :

17 = x

20 100

Now multiply 20 by 5 and 17 by 5 to determine the percent:

17 • 5 = x

20 • 5 100

x = 85

85 is equal to 85%.

100

NOTE: You could also divide 17 by 40 and convert the resulting decimal value to a percent:

34/40 = 0.85 * 100 = 85%