what is 38 percent of 73

Question

Can you explain how to solve this to me 

Answer 1

What is 38% of 73?

This is written as an English sentence and we need to translate it into a mathematical sentence.

 

The word "what" would be the blank (or the thing you are looking for).

The word "is" would mean "equals."

The word "of" means times (or multiply).

 

So we get this, in the mathematical translation:

______ = 38% x 73.

 

So now, we can see that both the 38% and the 73 are two factors to be multiplied together to get the product.

However, in order to multiply by a percentage, we need to change that percent to a decimal.  Here's how to do that:

Drop the percent sign, and move the decimal point two places to the left.  (That is the same as dividing the percentage by 100) That, in this case, would yield .38

 

So, multiplying .38 x 73, we would get 27.74

 

Then we stop and ask ourselves if our answer seems to be reasonable.

Would it be reasonable to say that approximately 27 would be about 1/3 of 73?  And yes, that does seem reasonable.  So that is a way to prove that our answer is correct.

Answer 2

Hi Allyson,

 

Remember,

1. "is" means =

2. "of" means multiply

3. percents need to be changed to decimals

 

So . . .

 

x = .38(75)      ("x" is unknown, or the "what" from the question . . .

                        and .38(75) means ".38 times 75")

 

x = 28.5