Question

The number of students at Marita's high school decreased to 98% of last year's number. Currently, there are 1,170 students. How many students were there last year? Round to the nearest number

Answer 1

x=number of students at Marita's high school last year
98%=.98
.98x=1170
x=1170/.98
x=1194

Answer 2

1193

Explanation:

If the number of students decreased to 98% of last years total, the total students decrease by:

`100-98=2`

The amount of students decreased by 2% from the previous years total. We can then determine the amount of students that we 2% of the current total. We first convert 2% into a fraction:

`2/100=1/50`

Therefore:

`1170*(1/50)=234/10=23.4`

So in order to get this years total we must add 23.4 to this years total:

`1170+23.4=1146.6≈1193`

There were 1193 students last year