A book shelf contains x books.when 4/5 of the books are removed,I have 25 books left.how many
were on the shelf.please show ur workings
so (1/5)x = 25
solve for x
Let's solve this problem step-by-step.
Let's assume the number of books on the shelf is "b".
According to the problem, when 4/5 of the books are removed, we have 25 books left. This means 1/5 of the books (since 5/5 - 4/5 = 1/5) is equal to 25 books.
So, we can set up the equation: (1/5)b = 25.
To solve for "b", we need to isolate it on one side of the equation. We can do this by multiplying both sides of the equation by the reciprocal of 1/5, which is 5/1.
(1/5)b * (5/1) = 25 * (5/1).
This simplifies to:
b = 125.
Therefore, there were 125 books on the shelf originally.
To solve this problem, let's break down the information given:
1. It is given that initially there were "x" books on the bookshelf.
2. When 4/5 (or 80%) of the books are removed, only 25 books are left.
To find the value of "x" (the initial number of books on the shelf), we can use the following equation:
80% of "x" = 25
To solve for "x", divide both sides of the equation by 80% (or 0.8):
x = 25 / 0.8
Now, let's calculate the value of "x":
x = 31.25
So, initially there were 31.25 books on the shelf. Since we cannot have a fraction of a book, the actual answer should be rounded to the nearest whole number.
Therefore, initially there were 31 books on the shelf.