Exercise 2 Page 181

We want to find what percent of the students who play a woodwind instrument play the saxophone. To do so, we will use the percent equation. part = percent * whole We are told that there are 45 students who play a woodwind instrument and of these, 18 play the saxophone. Let's draw a bar diagram to represent the problem. In the diagram, let p represent the desired percent.

Now we will apply the percent equation to the given situation. part = percent * whole [0.4em] ↓ [0.4em] 18 = p * 45 Next, we will solve the equation that we got for p. To do so, we will use the Division Property of Equality.

18=p* 45

DivEqn

.LHS /45.=.RHS /45.

18/45=45p/45

CancelCommonFac

Cancel out common factors

18/45=45p/45

SimpQuot

Simplify quotient

18/45=p

UseCalc

Use a calculator

0.4 =p

RearrangeEqn

Rearrange equation

p =0.4

We got that p= 0.4 is a solution to the equation. To write the decimal as a percent, we need to move the decimal point two places to the right and write the percent symbol. 0.4 = 40 % Therefore, 40 % of these students play the saxophone.