It wants us to find the percent of decrease.
First we find how much it is decreased, 40-15=25
Then we find out what percent is the 25(decreased amount) out of 40 by division.
25/40=5/8=0.625
25 is 0.625 of 40 which means that 15 is a 62.5% decrease from 40.
*Important: this problem is asking for the percent of decrease not the remaining percentage. This means that the answer is 62.5% instead of 37.5%