Question

During Spring Break at Faber College, students are invited to participate in a service trip to rebuild homes in Haiti affected by tropical storms. Of the students going on the trip, 60% percent are seniors; 25% are juniors; 10% are sophomores; and the rest are freshmen. Experience with manual labor for home building such as carpentry and painting is not required to go on the service, but several students have such experience. Ninety percent of the seniors have building experience, as do 80% of the juniors, 50% of the sophomores, and 20% of the freshmen.

(d) What proportion of the underclassmen (freshmen and sophomores) attending the service trip have building experience?

Answer 1

To determine the proportion of underclassmen with building experience going on the service trip, we find that 5% of the total students are sophomores with experience, and 1% are freshmen with experience, adding up to a total of 6%.

Step-by-step explanation:

To find the proportion of underclassmen on the service trip that have building experience, we will use the percentages of sophomores and freshmen with experience as provided: 10% of the students are sophomores, and 50% of them have building experience; the remaining 5% of the students are freshmen, and 20% of them have building experience. Let's calculate the proportion of each class that has experience and add them together to get the total proportion of underclassmen with building experience.

• Proportion of sophomores with experience = 10% of students * 50% with experience = 0.10 * 0.50 = 0.05 or 5% of the total students.
• Proportion of freshmen with experience = 5% of students * 20% with experience = 0.05 * 0.20 = 0.01 or 1% of the total students.

The total proportion of underclassmen with building experience is therefore 5% + 1% = 6% of all students going on the trip.