Question

Thirty-seven students in a math course, which was 96% of the students registered in the course, earned a passing grade for the course. Find the number of students registered for the math course.

Answer 1

39

Explanation:

37 = 96 %

x = 100%

`x =(37(100))/(96) =38.54= 39`

Answer 2

`\huge\boxed{39\ \text{students}}`

Note: The numbers in this problem are a little weird and don't work out perfectly. I'll demonstrate at the end of this answer how something seems a little off in the problem, but we'll get as close as possible.

Solving

We know from the problem that 37 students are equal to 96% of the class.

Let's write this as an equation:

`37=0.96x`

Divide both sides of the equation by
`0.96` to isolate
`x`.

`38.54\approx x`

We'll round this to
`39` as the final answer.

Why this doesn't seem quite right

It's important to note that you can't have partial students, only whole numbers.

If we do the math here, 37 out of 39 students is about 95%.
Also, 37 out of 38 is about 97%.

I'm not sure how the original writer of the question got 96%, but I suppose 39 is the best answer with what's been given.