Question

Only 18 percent of the pieces in the box were unpainted. If 738 pieces were painted,

how many pieces were in the box?

Answer 1

Consider 18% a fraction, 18/100.

What we know;

• 18% of the ___ pieces are left unpainted.
• 738 of the pieces are painted.

Let's figure out the percentage of the boxes that were painted:-

100% - 18%

= 82% of the pieces are painted.

Now we set up an equation, to find the total amount of pieces:

82/100(painted) x p(total number of pieces) = 738(unpainted)

82/100p = 738

0.82p = 738

/0.82 /0.82

p = 900 total pieces.

Answer 2

This required editing, so my answer was incorrect. Here is the correct method of doing this question.

Explanation:

Remark

Be careful how you set this up. It is easy to get the question backwards.

Givens.

Let x be the total that is in the box.

18% of the pieces in the box were unpainted.

782 pieces in the box were painted.

Solution

You cannot use 18% and 738 cannot be used without some modification to one of them. The only thing you can modify is the %.

% in the box that painted = 100 - 18 = 82

So 82% of the pieces in the box were painted.

Equation

(82/100)x = 738 Multiply both sides of the equation by 100

82x = 738* 100 Combine the right

82x = 73800 Divide both sides of the equation by 82

82x/82 = 73800/82

x = 900

Answer: x = 900