Please help-math ?

[anjanette]

Hello everyone!

I have been lurking for a while, but this is my first post. A local hospital will select 8 people and pay for them to attend a LPN tech school (about 2 hrs away from here). It sounds like a great deal because they will pay for everything and on top of that, they will pay a wage to the students while in school. If selected, I would have to agree to work for the hospital for 2 years.

Anyway, I have been reviewing the HOBET study guide and I am stuck on a math problem. I feel a bit silly since this is basic algebra, but I haven't been in a math class for a while.

Here's the problem:

37.5% as a common fraction

A. 4/9

B. 5/18

C. 3/11

D. 3/8

The book explains that in order to change % to fractions is remove % sign and divide the number by 100. For some reason, it just not clicking.

If anyone could try to kind of explain how to figure this one out, I would be very happy!

:)

Thanks

Anjie

P.S. They say the answer is 3/8

[nessa1982]

yeah its reduced so 37.5/100 and you find the common denomiator, and thats the answer :)

[KevinN]

You just have to reduce 37.5/100. I probably did it the long way but I first divided both the numerator and denominator by .5( common denominator) to get rid of the decimal. That will give you 75/200. So you must further reduce it with a common denominator of 25 that will bring it to 3/8. Or, the common denominator is 12.5. So you could just divide 12.5 by both the numerator and denominator, 37.5/100 by 12.5 and that will bring you to 3/8.

[anjanette]

Thanks for posting. Is there an easy way to see the the common denominator is 12.5? That part of the problem for me. Are there any nurses out there that struggled a bit with math at first?

[lucianne]

This won't teach you how to do the math, but here's the quick-and-dirty method for when you're pressed for time on a test:

You know that 1/3 as a percentage is 33.3% and your percentage is greater than that, so you're looking for a fraction that is greater than 1/3. For answer B, 5 x 3 = 15, which is less than 18, and for C, 3x3 = 9, which is less than 11, so B and C are eliminated. Look at the numerators of A and D. In answer A, 4 cannot be divided into 375 evenly so D is the answer.

good luck

luci

[memphispanda, RN]

My dirty little trick--I work the answers instead of the question if possible. In this case, I would divide the fractions through and see which one gives me that percent as an answer.

[SirJohnny]

Solution via Method #1:

Step 1: Convert percentage to fraction: 37.5% = 37.5 / 100

Step 2: Divide numerator & denominator by 5: = 7.5 / 20

Step 3: Multiply numerator & denominator by 10: = 75 / 200

Step 4: Divide numerator & denominator by 25: = 3 / 8

Solution via Method #2:

A = 4/9 = 0.444 = 44.4%

B = 5/18 = 0.278 = 27.8%

C = 3/11 = 0.273 = 27.3%

D = 3/8 = 0.375 = 37.5% (correct answer)

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If you do not have a calculator -- then method #1 is quickest way.

Hope this helps.

John Coxey

([email protected])