Question

When Carla looked out at the school parking lot, she noticed that for every 2 minivans, there were 5 other types of vehicles. If there are 161 total vehicles in the parking lot, how many of them are minivans?

Answer 1

46 of the total vehicles are minivans

Explanation:

Let the number of minivans be x

and the number of other types of vehicles be y

From the question,

Carla noticed that for every 2 minivans, there were 5 other types of vehicles.

This means the ratio of minivans to other types of vehicles is 2:5.

Therefore,

x:y = 2:5

We can then write that

x/y = 2/5

∴ 5x = 2y ...... (1)

Also from the question,

There are 161 total vehicles in the parking lot

That is

x + y = 161 ...... (2)

From equation (2), we can write that

y = 161 - x

Put this into equation (1)

5x = 2y

Then

5x = 2(161-x)

5x = 322 -2x

5x+2x = 322

7x = 322

x = 322/7

x = 46

Since x represent the number of minivans

Hence, 46 of the total vehicles are minivans.