Question

This year, a lighting supplier called bright idea shipped 29,608 lamps to its distributors. the head of the shipping department indicated that this is 20% fewer than they shipped last year. how many lamps did they ship last year?

Answer 1

By considering this year's shipment of 29,608 lamps as 80% of last year's shipment, we calculate that the company shipped 37,010 lamps last year.

Step-by-step explanation:

The student has asked to calculate the number of lamps shipped by a company last year given that this year they shipped 20% fewer lamps than last year. To find the original number of lamps shipped last year, we will consider this year's shipment as 80% (100% - 20%) of the last year's shipment. Therefore, we can set up the equation 29,608 = 0.8 × (last year's shipment). Solving for the last year's shipment, we get:

1. Divide 29,608 by 0.8.
2. The resulting number will be the total lamps shipped last year.

29,608 ÷ 0.8 = 37,010 lamps.

Therefore, they shipped 37,010 lamps last year.