Question

Officer Jacobi drove 180 miles in his patrol car during part of May. The distance represents 40% of May. How many miles did he drive all of May? a) 710 miles b) 420 miles c) 720 miles d) 450 miles Need Help on How to work this problem out, what formula would I use?

Answer 1

Answer: 450 miles


Explanation: When doing percentages, we can use the proportion is/over=%/100.

If we apply this to your problem, we can say 180 miles “is” 40% “of” x (x is the total number of miles driven in May.

Plugging in numbers for is, of, and the % gives us 180/x=40/100

Solving with cross multiplying and dividing gives us 450 miles=x

Answer 2

D: 450 miles

Explanation:

So we know that Officer Jacobi drove 180 miles, which represents 40% of the total distance driven. In other words, 40% of the total distance traveled is 180. Thus (let D be the total distance traveled):

`0.4D=180`

This equation is basically saying that 40% (0.4) of the total distance driven is 180 miles. To solve for the total distance D, we can divide both sides by 0.4. Thus:

`0.4D=180\\D=450`

So the answer is D or 450 miles.

Note that there isn't a specific formula you would use. These types of problems require you to write out an equation yourself.