Question

Public opinion polls reported in newspapers are usually given with a margin of error. A poll for a local election determined that Candidate Morrison will receive 51% of the votes. The stated margin of error is ± 3%. Write and solve an absolute value equation to find the minimum and maximum percent of the vote that Candidate Morrison can expect to receive.

Answer 1

The minimum percent of the vote that Candidate Morrison can expect to receive is 48% and the maximum percent is 54%.

Step-by-step explanation:

To find the minimum and maximum percent of the vote that Candidate Morrison can expect to receive, we can use an absolute value equation. Since the stated margin of error is ±3%, we can write the equation as:

|x - 51| = 3

Solving the equation will give us the range of values for x, which represents the percent of the vote for Candidate Morrison.

Step 1: x - 51 = 3 or x - 51 = -3

Step 2: x = 54 or x = 48

Therefore, the minimum percent of the vote that Candidate Morrison can expect to receive is 48% and the maximum percent is 54%.