Elena's daughter sold 120 boxes of girlscout cookies. She was told that this amount represented 5% of the troops sale. How many boxes did the troop sell?

120/0.05 = ?

Let me put it another way. 5% = 1/20

120 is 1/20 of what number?

Multiply 120 by 20 to find the answer. Dividing by 0.05 is the same thing as multiplying by 20

part/whole = part/whole

120/X = 5/100
X=2400

troop sold 2400 cookies

To find out how many boxes the troop sold, we'll need to use some algebraic equations.

Let's assume that the total number of boxes sold by the troop is represented by "x". We know that Elena's daughter sold 120 boxes, which represents 5% of the troop's sales.

To translate 5% into a decimal, we divide it by 100:
5% / 100 = 0.05

Now we can set up an equation based on this information:
0.05x = 120

To isolate "x", we need to divide both sides of the equation by 0.05:
0.05x / 0.05 = 120 / 0.05

Simplifying the equation gives us:
x = 2400

Therefore, the troop sold a total of 2400 boxes of girl scout cookies.