Question

Lee and Fred are elementary school teachers. Fred works for a charter school in Pacific Palisades, California, where class size reduction is a goal for 2013. Lee works for a noncharter school where funds do not allow for class size reduction policies. Lee’s fifth-grade class has 1.4 times as many students as Fred’s. If there are a total of 60 students, how many students does Fred’s class have? How many students does Lee’s class have?

Answer 1

25,35

Explanation:

We'll call fred's class size x. We know that lee's clas is 1.4 times bigger than fred's so it is 1.4x. Now, their total is 60, so 60/2.4 = x x=25

so Fred's class has 25 so Lee's class has 35.

Answer 2

Fred’s class has 25 students.

Lee’s class has 35 students.

Explanation:

You know that Lee’s fifth-grade class has 1.4 times as many students as Fred’s, then you can write the following expression:

`L=1.4F`

Where L is the number of students that Lee’s class has and F is the number of students that Fred’s class has.

You know that there are a total of 60 students, then you can write the following expression:

`L+F=60`

Substitute
`L=1.4F` into the second equation and solve for F:

`1.4F+F=60`

`2.4F=60`

`F=60/2.4`

`F=25`

Then, L is:

`L=1.4*25=35`