Question

In 2019, the USDA reported that acreage for wheat was approximately 45.6 million acres;this is down 5% from 2018. Which of the following can you conclude?a) The 2018 wheat acreage was 47.88 million acres.b) The 2018 wheat acreage was 48.0 million acres.c) The 2019 wheat acreage was 43.43 million acres.d) The 2019 wheat acreage was 43.32 million acres.

Answer 1

Given that the USDA reported the acreage for wheat in 2019 was approximately 45.6 million acres; and was down 5% from 2018. We were asked to pick an option that would represent the right conclusion to the given statement.

To do this, we would assume that the acreage for wheat in 20 18 is x. Since 2018 differs from 2019 by 5%

This implies that the representation of 2019 acreage would be;

`100\text{\%-5\%=95\%}`

Therefore, we can have

`\begin{gathered} (95)/(100)* x=45.6 \\ \text{Cross multiply} \\ 95x=45.6*100 \\ \text{Divide both sides by 95} \\ (95x)/(95)=(45.6*100)/(95) \\ x=48 \end{gathered}`

Therefore the 2018 acreage was;

Answer: Option B