Final answer:
Calculating the number of students likely to have earned an A on the test involves setting up a proportion based on past results and solving for the unknown, which is a typical middle school mathematics problem.
Step-by-step explanation:
The student has asked how many students likely earned an A on Mrs. Andrew's Chapter 4 Science test this year, given that 17 out of 52 students earned an A in the past, and 181 students took the test this year. To determine this, we use the ratio of students who got an A in the past to predict the number who would likely get an A this year. This type of problem is solved through a process called proportional reasoning, which is a part of mathematics and particularly useful in solving statistics and probability questions.
Step-by-Step Explanation:
- Identify the ratio of students who earned an A in the past: 17 A's out of 52 students.
- Set up a proportion to find the number of A's this year: (17 A's / 52 students) = (x A's / 181 students).
- Solve for the unknown x: x = (17 A's / 52 students) * 181 students.
- Calculate the value of x, which represents the predicted number of A's this year.
Using this method, we can estimate the number of students who likely earned an A on the test this year.