Final answer:
To find the percentage of students who picked a vanilla cupcake, divide the number who chose vanilla by the total number of students who chose any cupcake, and multiply by 100. In this case, it is (14/56) * 100, resulting in 25%.
Step-by-step explanation:
To determine what percentage of the students picked a vanilla cupcake, we must first add the total number of students who picked each type of cupcake. So, 14 students chose vanilla, and 42 students chose chocolate, resulting in a total of 56 students. Next, we calculate the percentage by taking the number of students who chose vanilla (14) and dividing it by the total number of students (56), then multiplying by 100 to get the percentage:
Percentage of vanilla cupcakes = (Number of vanilla cupcake choosers / Total number of cupcake choosers) × 100
Percentage of vanilla cupcakes = (14 / 56) × 100 = 25%
Therefore, 25% of the students picked a vanilla cupcake.