Final answer:
To find the number of original applicants who decided to attend the University of Texas at Arlington, first calculate the number of accepted applicants, then multiply it by the fraction of accepted applicants who decided to attend.
Step-by-step explanation:
To calculate the number of original applicants who decided to attend the University of Texas at Arlington, we need to first find the number of applicants who were accepted, and then determine the fraction of accepted applicants who decided to attend.
Given that 1/3 of the 12,000 applicants were accepted, the number of accepted applicants can be calculated as: 1/3 * 12000 = 4000.
Next, we need to find 3/8 of the accepted applicants who decided to attend. Multiplying 4000 by this fraction, we get: 3/8 * 4000 = 1500.
Hence, 1500 of the original applicants decided to attend the University of Texas at Arlington.