Question

A pom-pom manufacturer makes each of its pom-poms with 35% white strands (w), 25% blue strands (b), and 40% red strands (r). If each pom-pom has a total of 80 strands, how many of strands of each color are needed to make a pair of pom-poms? In this activity, you’ll work through this pom-pom problem step by step.

Part A
Write a proportion for the number of strands in each color to find how many strands are needed to make one pom-pom.

white strands: w/80=?/?blue strands:b/80=?/?red strands: r/80=?/?

Answer 1

32 red

28 white

20 blue

Explanation:

.40 x 80 = 32 red

.35 x 80 = 28 white

.25 x 80 = 20 blue

The totals have to equal the total number of strands.

Answer 2

white: w/80 = 35/100

blue: b/80 = 25/100

red: r/80 = 40/100

Explanation: