In a recent year, 33.6% of all registered doctors were female. If there were 48,700 female registered doctors that year, what was the total number of registered doctors?

Answer 1

Let D represent the number of all registered doctors. If you take 33.6% of that number the result gives the number of female registered doctors.

An equation that models that situation:

0.336 D = 48700 (note that 33.6% has been converted to its decimal equivalent 0.336.

To solve that equation for D, divide both sides by the numerical coefficient of D.

D = 48700/ 0.336

If you have a calculator, go for it.

Or:

48700 / (336/1000) = 48700 (1000/336) = 48700000/(336); doing that calculation by hand is not much fun, but gives a result of 144940.47619. Since we cannot have a fraction of a doctor, round up to 144941 as the total number of doctors, 33.6% of which are female.