Answer:
Shelter B has 800 beds total and 480 occupied (60%)
Explanation:
Start by first finding how many beds are occupied in Shelter A.
There are 500 beds total and 90% are occupied.
So if you take 500 x 0.90 (the decimal for 90%) = 450
You now know 450 beds are used in Shelter A.
The next part tells you the "occupancy" ratio for Shelter A compared to Shelter B is 15:16.
You can set up your ratio to find out how many beds are occupied in Shelter B.
15 450
--- = ------ use cross multiplication to solve for x.
16 x
15x = (16) (450)
15x = 7200
x = 480
This makes sense since for every 15 beds in Shelter A that is used, there is 1 more bed (or 16) used in Shelter B. 450 beds divided by 15 is equal to 30. If you add the one extra bed for each of those 30, you'll see that 450 + 30 = 480.
So the number of beds occupied in Shelter B is 480. But Shelter B is only 60% occupied. Now you can use another ration to find out now many total beds there are in Shelter B.
Use the decimal form of 60% as 0.6 and the decimal form of 100% as 1.
If 480 beds is at 60%, what number of beds represent 100%?
480 x
------- = -----
0.6 1
Again cross multiply to solve for x.
0.6x = 480
x = 480 / 0.6
x = 800
Check your answer. If there are a total of 800 beds in Shelter B, is 480 beds equal to 60%?
800 x 0.6 = 480