The freshman class at a major university contains 5840 students. This was a 27% decrease from the size of the freshman class the year before. What was the size of last year's freshman class?
To find the size of last year's freshman class, we need to calculate the original size of the class before the decrease.
Step 1: Calculate the decrease in percentage.
27% decrease means the final size is 100% - 27% = 73% of the original size.
Step 2: Calculate the original size.
Let's assume the original size of last year's freshman class is X.
73% of X is equal to 5840 students.
So, we can set up the equation:
0.73X = 5840
Step 3: Solve for X.
Divide both sides of the equation by 0.73 to isolate X:
X = 5840 / 0.73
Using a calculator, we find:
X ≈ 8000
Therefore, the size of last year's freshman class was approximately 8000 students.
To find the size of last year's freshman class, we can reverse the 27% decrease.
Step 1: Convert the percentage decrease to a decimal by dividing it by 100.
27% = 27/100 = 0.27
Step 2: Calculate the original size of the freshman class by dividing the current size (5840) by (1 - decrease percentage).
Original size = 5840 / (1 - 0.27) = 5840 / 0.73 = 8000
Therefore, last year's freshman class had 8000 students.
Given: n * (1.27) = 5840
Find: n
Hint: use division.