SSAT Upper Level Math : How to find the whole from the part

Study concepts, example questions & explanations for SSAT Upper Level Math

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Example Questions

Example Question #111 : Fractions

Last year, \(\displaystyle 70\%\) of students at a certain high school continued on to college. If \(\displaystyle 1400\) students from this high school went to college, how many total students did the high school have last year?

Possible Answers:

\(\displaystyle 2000\)

\(\displaystyle 5000\)

\(\displaystyle 1400\)

\(\displaystyle 2800\)

Correct answer:

\(\displaystyle 2000\)

Explanation:

Let \(\displaystyle x\) be the total number of students enrolled last year at the high school the question describes. With the information given in the question, we can write the following equation and solve for \(\displaystyle x\).

\(\displaystyle 0.7x=1400\)

\(\displaystyle x=\frac{1400}{0.7}\)

\(\displaystyle x=2000\)

\(\displaystyle 70\%\) of \(\displaystyle 2000\) is \(\displaystyle 1400\), so the high school the question describes had \(\displaystyle 2000\) students last year.

Example Question #11 : How To Find The Whole From The Part

\(\displaystyle 24\) students in a class are vegetarian. If \(\displaystyle 12\%\) of this class is vegetarian, how many total students are in the class?

Possible Answers:

\(\displaystyle 200\)

\(\displaystyle 400\)

\(\displaystyle 320\)

\(\displaystyle 124\)

Correct answer:

\(\displaystyle 200\)

Explanation:

Let \(\displaystyle x\) be the total number of students in the class. With the information given in the question, we can write the following equation and solve for \(\displaystyle x\).

\(\displaystyle 0.12x=24\)

\(\displaystyle x=\frac{24}{0.12}\)

\(\displaystyle x=200\)

\(\displaystyle 12\%\) of \(\displaystyle 200\) is \(\displaystyle 24\), so there are \(\displaystyle 200\) students in the class the question describes.

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