Answer: 90,000
Explanation:
From the question, we are informed that in a local town, 54,000 families have incomes less than $25,000 per year. We are further told that this number of families is 60% of the families that had this income level 12 years ago.
To calculate the number of families who had incomes less than 25,000 per year 12 years ago goes thus:
Let the the number of families who had incomes less than 25,000 per year 12 years ago be represented by x.
Since we are told that this number of families is 60% of the families that had this income level 12 years ago. This means that:
60% of x = 54,000
60/100 × x = 54,000
0.6 × x = 54,000
0.6x = 54,000
Divide by 0.6
0.6x/0.6 = 54000/0.6
x = 90,000
The number of families who had incomes less than 25,000 per year 12 years ago was 90,000.