Question

30% of the population of the town is blond. 10% of blond people in the town have blue eyes. if there are 3600 people in the town who are both blond and have blue eyes, what is the population of the town?

Answer 1

To find the total population of the town, divide the number of blond-haired, blue-eyed individuals (3600) by 10% to get the total number of blond individuals, then divide that number (36,000) by 30% to arrive at a total population of 120,000 people.

Step-by-step explanation:

To calculate the total population of the town given that 30% of the population is blond and 10% of those blond individuals have blue eyes, with an absolute number of 3600 people having both blond hair and blue eyes, we first determine what percentage of the total population these 3600 individuals represent. Since 10% of the blond individuals have blue eyes, and these 3600 people are that 10%, we can determine the total number of blond people in the town by dividing 3600 by 10%, which gives us 36,000 blond individuals, as 3600 is 10% of 36,000.

Next, knowing that blond individuals make up 30% of the town's population, we set up the equation where 30% of the total population equals 36,000. To find the total population (P), we divide 36,000 by 30%, yielding a total population of 120,000 people.