2.

6 Solving Percent Applications

2.6 OBJECTIVES
1. Solve a percent application for the amount
2. Solve a percent application for the rate
3. Solve a percent application for the base

The word percent is Latin for for each hundred. Look at the following drawing.

NOTE The rectangle is divided

into 100 parts, 25 of them are
shaded.

How can we describe how much of the rectangle is shaded? We can say that
1
1. of the rectangle is shaded,
4
2. 0.25 of the rectangle is shaded, or
3. 25% of the rectangle is shaded.

Example 1
Converting Rational Numbers to Percents

Convert each rational number to a percent.

(a) 0.36  36% To convert a decimal number to a percent, we move the decimal
point two places to the right.
(b) 1.575  157.5% Again, we move the decimal point two places to the right.
2
(c)  0.4  40% When converting a fraction to a percent, rewrite the fraction as
5
a decimal and move the decimal point two places to the right.

CHECK YOURSELF 1
Convert each rational number to a percent.
1
(a) 0.45 (b) 2.1 (c)
8
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There are many practical applications that use percents. Every complete percent statement
has three parts that need to be identified. Lets look at some definitions that will help with
that process.

Definitions: Base, Amount, and Rate

The base is the whole in a statement. It is the standard used for comparison.
The amount is the part of the whole that is being compared to the base.
The rate is the ratio of the amount to the base. It is written as a percent.

207
208 CHAPTER 2 EQUATIONS AND INEQUALITIES

Example 2
Identifying Base, Amount, and Rate.

Identify the indicated quantity in each statement.

(a) The rate in the statement 50% of 480 is 240. The rate is 50%.
(b) The amount in the statement 20% of 400 is 80. The amount is 80.
(c) The base in the statement 125% of 200 is 250. The base is 200. Note that the base is
almost always preceded by the word of.

CHECK YOURSELF 2
Identify the indicated quantity in each statement.

(a) The rate in the statement 40% of 80 is 32.

(b) The amount in the statement 150% of 300 is 450.
(c) The base in the statement 5% of 800 is 40.

Given an application of percents, it is frequently easiest to rewrite the statement in the form
R% of B is A
to identify the three parts.

Example 3
Identifying Rate, Base, and Amount

Identify the rate, base, and amount in the following statement.

Delia borrows $10,000 for 1 year at 11% interest. How much interest will she pay?
We can rewrite the statement as 11% of $10,000 is what amount?
11% is the rate, $10,000 is the base, and the amount is unknown (at least at the moment).

CHECK YOURSELF 3
Identify the rate, base, and amount in the following statement.

Melina earned $140 last year from a certificate of deposit that paid 6%. How much
did she invest? 2001 McGraw-Hill Companies

Definitions: Percent Proportion

To solve such problems as those in the previous example, we use the percent
proportion.

Amount Rate

Base 100
This proportion could also be written as the equation
100  amount  rate  base or 100A  R  B
 SOLVING PERCENT APPLICATIONS SECTION 2.6 209

Example 4
Solving a Problem Involving an Unknown Amount
1
Find the interest you must pay if you borrow $2000 for 1 year with an interest rate of 9 %.
2
1
The base (the principal) is $2000, the rate is 9 %, and we want to find the interest (the
2
amount). Using the percent proportion gives
REMEMBER
1 A 9.5
9 %  9.5% 
2 2000 100
so
100A  9.5  2000
or
19,000
A  190
100
The interest (amount) is $190.

CHECK YOURSELF 4
1
You invest $5000 for 1 year at 8 %. How much interest will you earn?
2

Lets look at an application that requires finding the rate.

Example 5
Solving a Problem Involving an Unknown Rate

You borrow $2000 from a bank for 1 year and are charged $150 interest. What is the
interest rate?
The base is the amount of the loan (the principal). The amount is the interest paid. To
find the interest rate, we again use the percent proportion.
150 R

2000 100

Then

100  150  R  2000

15,000
R  7.5
2000
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The interest rate is 7.5%.

CHECK YOURSELF 5
Xian borrowed $3200 and was charged $352 in interest for 1 year. What was the
interest rate?

Now lets look at an application that requires finding the base.

210 CHAPTER 2 EQUATIONS AND INEQUALITIES

Example 6
Solving a Problem Involving an Unknown Base

Ms. Hobson agrees to pay 11% interest on a loan for her new automobile. She is charged
$550 interest on a loan for 1 year. How much did she borrow?
The rate is 11%. The amount, or interest, is $550. We want to find the base, which is
the principal, or the size of the loan. To solve the problem, we have

550 11

B 100
100  550  11B
55,000
B  5000
11
She borrowed $5000.

CHECK YOURSELF 6
Sue pays $210 interest for a 1-year loan at 10.5%. What was the size of her loan?

Percents are used in too many ways for us to list. Look at the variety in the following
examples, which illustrate some additional situations in which you will find percents.
Another common application of percents involves tax rates.

Example 7
Solving a Percent Problem

A state taxes sales at 5.5%. How much sales tax will you pay on a purchase of $48?
The tax you pay is the amount (the part of the whole). Here the base is the purchase
price, $48, and the rate is the tax rate, 5.5%.

NOTE In an application A 5.5

involving taxes, the tax paid is  or 100A  5.5  48
48 100
always the amount.
Now
264
NOTE 48  5.5  264 A  2.64
100

The sales tax paid is $2.64.

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CHECK YOURSELF 7
1
Suppose that a state has a sales tax rate of 6 %. If you buy a used car for $1200,
2
how much sales tax must you pay?

Percents are also used to deal with store markups or discounts. Consider Example 8.
 SOLVING PERCENT APPLICATIONS SECTION 2.6 211

Example 8
Solving a Percent Problem

A store marks up items to make a 30% profit. If an item cost $2.50 from the supplier, what
will the selling price be?
The base is the cost of the item, $2.50, and the rate is 30%. In the percent proportion, the
markup is the amount in this application.
A 30
 or 100A  30  2.50
2.50 100
Then
75
A  0.75
100
The markup is $0.75. Finally we have
NOTE
Selling price  original cost  Selling price  $2.50  $0.75  $3.25 Add the cost and the markup
markup to find the selling price.

CHECK YOURSELF 8
A store wants to discount (or mark down) an item by 25% for a sale. If the original
price of the item was $45, find the sale price. [Hint: Find the discount (the amount
the item will be marked down), and subtract that from the original price.]

Our final examples illustrate increases and decreases stated in terms of percents.

Example 9
Solving a Percent Problem

The population of a town increased 15% in a 3-year period. If the original population was
12,000, what was the population at the end of the period?
First we find the increase in the population. That increase is the amount in the problem.
A 15
 so 100A  15  12,000
12,000 100
180,000
A
100
 1800
To find the population at the end of the period, we add
12,000  1800  13,800
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Original population Increase New population

CHECK YOURSELF 9
A schools enrollment decreased by 8% from a given year to the next. If the enroll-
ment was 550 students the first year, how many students were enrolled the second
year?
212 CHAPTER 2 EQUATIONS AND INEQUALITIES

Example 10
Solving a Percent Problem
Enrollment at a school increased from 800 to 888 students from a given year to the next.
What was the rate of increase?
First we must subtract to find the actual increase.
Increase: 888  800  88 students
Now to find the rate, we have
NOTE We use the original 88 R
enrollment, 800, as our base.  so 100  88  R  800
800 100
8800
R  11
800
The enrollment has increased at a rate of 11%.

CHECK YOURSELF 10
Car sales at a dealership decreased from 350 units one year to 322 units the next.
What was the rate of decrease?

Example 11
Solving a Percent Problem

A company hired 18 new employees in 1 year. If this was a 15% increase, how many
employees did the company have before the increase?
The rate is 15%. The amount is 18, the number of new employees. The base in this
problem is the number of employees before the increase. So

18 15

B 100
1800
100  18  15B or B  120
15
The company had 120 employees before the increase.

CHECK YOURSELF 11
A school had 54 new students in one term. If this was a 12% increase over the pre-
2001 McGraw-Hill Companies

vious term, how many students were there before the increase?

CHECK YOURSELF ANSWERS

1. (a) 45%; (b) 210%; (c) 12.5% 2. (a) 40%; (b) 450; (c) 800
3. Rate  6%; base unknown; amount  $140 4. $425 5. 11% 6. $2000
7. $78 8. $33.75 9. 506 10. 8% 11. 450
 Name

2.6 Exercises Section Date

Convert each rational number to a percent.

3 7 ANSWERS
1. 0.23 2. 0.31 3. 2.5 4. 1.8 5. 6.
8 16
In Exercises 7 to 12, identify the indicated quantity in each statement. 1.

7. The rate in the statement 23% of 400 is 92. 2.

8. The base in the statement 40% of 600 is 240. 3.

9. The amount in the statement 200 is 40% of 500. 4.

10. The rate in the statement 480 is 60% of 800. 5.

11. The base in the statement 16% of 350 is 56. 6.

12. The amount in the statement 150 is 75% of 200. 7.

Identify the rate, base, and amount in the following applications. Do not solve the 8.
applications at this point.
9.
13. Commission. Jan has a 5% commission rate on all her sales. If she sells $40,000
worth of merchandise in 1 month, what commission will she earn? 10.

11.
14. Salary. 22% of Shirleys monthly salary is deducted for withholding. If those
deductions total $209, what is her salary? 12.

13.
15. Chemistry. In a chemistry class of 30 students, 5 received a grade of A.
What percent of the students received As? 14.

15.
16. Mixtures. A can of mixed nuts contains 80% peanuts. If the can holds 16 ounces
(oz), how many ounces of peanuts does it contain? 16.

17.
17. Selling price. The sale tax rate in a state is 5.5% . If you pay a tax of $3.30 on an
item that you purchase, what is its selling price? 18.

19.
18. Manufacturing. In a shipment of 750 parts, 75 were found to be defective.
What percent of the parts were faulty? 20.
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19. Enrollments. A college had 9000 students at the start of a school year. If there is an
enrollment increase of 6% by the beginning of the next year, how many additional
students were there?

20. Investments. Paul invested $5000 in a time deposit. What interest will he earn for
1 year if the interest rate is 6.5%?

213
ANSWERS

21.
Solve each of the following applications.
22.
21. Interest. What interest will you pay on a $3400 loan for 1 year if the interest rate
23. is 12%?

24.
22. Chemistry. A chemist has 300 milliliters (mL) of solution that is 18% acid. How
25.
many milliliters of acid are in the solution?

26.

27.

28. 300 mL

23. Payroll deductions. Roberto has 26% of his pay withheld for deductions. If he earns
$550 per week, what amount is withheld?

24. Commission. A real estate agents commission rate is 6%. What will be the amount
of the commission on the sale of an $85,000 home?

25. Commission. If a salesman is paid a $140 commission on the sale of a $2800

sailboat, what is his commission rate?
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26. Interest. Ms. Jordan has been given a loan of $2500 for 1 year. If the interest
charged is $275, what is the interest rate on the loan?

27. Interest. Joan was charged $18 interest for 1 month on a $1200 credit card balance.
What was the monthly interest rate?

28. Chemistry. There is 117 grams (g) of acid in 900 g of a solution of acid and water.
What percent of the solution is acid?

214
 ANSWERS

29.
29. Test scores. On a test, Alice had 80% of the problems right. If she had 20 problems
correct, how many questions were on the test? 30.

30. Sales tax. A state sales tax rate is 3.5%. If the tax on a purchase is $7, what was the 31.
amount of the purchase?
32.

31. Loan amount. Patty pays $525 interest for a 1-year loan at 10.5%. What was the 33.
amount of her loan?
34.
32. Commission. A saleswoman is working on a 5% commission basis. If she wants to
35.
make $1800 in 1 month, how much must she sell?
36.
33. Sales tax. A state sales tax is levied at a rate of 6.4%. How much tax would one pay
on a purchase of $260? 37.

1 38.
34. Down payment. Betty must make a 9 % down payment on the purchase of a $2000
2
motorcycle. How much must she pay down? 39.

1
35. Commission. If a house sells for $125,000 and the commission rate is 6 %, how
2
much will the salesperson make for the sale?

36. Test scores. Marla needs 70% on a final test to receive a C for a course. If the exam
has 120 questions, how many questions must she answer correctly?
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37. Unemployment. A study has shown that 102 of the 1200 people in the workforce of
a small town are unemployed. What is the towns unemployment rate?

38. Surveys. A survey of 400 people found that 66 were left-handed. What percent of
those surveyed were left-handed?

39. Dropout rate. Of 60 people who start a training program, 45 complete the course.
What is the dropout rate?

215
ANSWERS

40.
40. Manufacturing. In a shipment of 250 parts, 40 are found to be defective. What
41. percent of the parts are faulty?

42. 41. Surveys. In a recent survey, 65% of those responding were in favor of a freeway
improvement project. If 780 people were in favor of the project, how many people
43. responded to the survey?

44.
42. Enrollments. A college finds that 42% of the students taking a foreign language are
45. enrolled in Spanish. If 1512 students are taking Spanish, how many foreign language
students are there?
46.
43. Salary. 22% of Samuels monthly salary is deducted for withholding. If those
47. deductions total $209, what is his salary?

48.
44. Budgets. The Townsends budget 36% of their monthly income for food. If they
spend $864 on food, what is their monthly income?

45. Markup. An appliance dealer marks up refrigerators 22% (based on cost). If the
cost of one model was $600, what will its selling price be?

46. Enrollments. A school had 900 students at the start of a school year. If there is an
enrollment increase of 7% by the beginning of the next year, what is the new
enrollment?

47. Land value. A home lot purchased for $125,000 increased in value by 25% over
3 years. What was the lots value at the end of the period?
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48. Depreciation. New cars depreciate an average of 28% in their first year of use. What
will an $18,000 car be worth after 1 year?

216
 ANSWERS

49.
49. Enrollment. A schools enrollment was up from 950 students in 1 year to 1064
students in the next. What was the rate of increase? 50.

50. Salary. Under a new contract, the salary for a position increases from $31,000 to 51.
$33,635. What rate of increase does this represent?
52.

51. Markdown. A stereo system is marked down from $450 to $382.50. What is the 53.
discount rate?
54.

55.

56.

57.

52. Business. The electricity costs of a business decrease from $12,000 one year to
$10,920 the next. What is the rate of decrease?

53. Price changes. The price of a new van has increased $4830, which amounts to a
14% increase. What was the price of the van before the increase?

54. Markdown. A television set is marked down $75, to be placed on sale. If this is a
12.5% decrease from the original price, what was the selling price before the sale?

55. Workforce. A company had 66 fewer employees in July 1999 than in July 1998. If
this represents a 5.5% decrease, how many employees did the company have in July
1998?

56. Salary. Carlotta received a monthly raise of $162.50. If this represented a 6.5%
increase, what was her monthly salary before the raise?

57. Retail sales. A pair of shorts is advertised for $48.75 and as being 25% off the
original price. What was the original price?
2001 McGraw-Hill Companies

217
ANSWERS

58.
58. Tipping. If the total bill at a restaurant, including a 15% tip is $65.32, what was the
59. cost of the meal alone?
The following chart shows U.S. trade with Mexico from 19921997. Use this information
60. for exercises 5962.

61.
U.S. Trade With Mexico, 1992-97
Source: Office of Trade and Economic Analysis,
62. U.S. Dept. of Commerce
(millions of dollars)
63. MEXICO
Year Exports Imports Trade Balance1
64. 1992 ... $40,592 . . . $35,211 ... $5,381
1993 ... 41,581 . . . 39,917 ... 1,664
19942 ... 50,844 . . . 49,494 ... 1,350
65. 1995 ... 46,292 . . . 61,685 . . . 15,393
1996 ... 56,792 . . . 74,297 . . . 17,506
1997 ... 71,388 . . . 85,938 . . . 14,549
66.
(1) Totals may not add due to rounding
(2) NAFTA provisions began to take effect: Jan. 1, 1994

59. What is the rate of increase (to the nearest whole percent) of exports from 1992 to
1997?

60. What is the rate of increase (to the nearest whole percent) of imports from 1992 to
1997?

61. By what percent did exports exceed imports in 1992?

62. By what percent did imports exceed exports in 1997?

Many percent problems involve calculating what is known as compound interest.

Suppose that you invest $1000 at 5% in a savings account for 1 year. For year 1,
the interest is 5% of $1000, or 0.05  $1000  $50. At the end of year 1, you will
have $1050 in the account.
At 5%
$1000 $1050
Start Year 1

Now if you leave that amount in the account for a second year, the interest will be
calculated on the original principal, $1000, plus the first years interest, $50. This is
called compound interest.
For year 2, the interest is 5% of $1050, or 0.05  $1050  $52.50. At the end of
year 2, you will have $1102.50 in the account.

At 5% At 5%
$1000 $1050 $1102.50
Start Year 1 Year 2
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In Exercises 63 to 66, assume the interest is compounded annually (at the end of each
year), and find the amount in an account with the given interest rate and principal.

63. $4000, 6%, 2 years 64. $3000, 7%, 2 years

65. $4000, 5%, 3 years 66. $5000, 6%, 3 years

218
 ANSWERS

67.
67. Automobiles. In 1990, there were an estimated 145.0 million passenger cars
registered in the United States. The total number of vehicles registered in the 68.
United States for 1990 was estimated at 194.5 million. What percent of the vehicles
registered were passenger cars? 69.

68. Gasoline. Gasoline accounts for 85% of the motor fuel consumed in the United 70.
States every day. If 8882 thousand barrels (bbl) of motor fuel are consumed each day,
how much gasoline is consumed each day in the United States? 71.

69. Petroleum. In 1999, transportation accounted for 63% of U.S. petroleum

consumption. Assuming that same rate applies now, and 10.85 million bbl of
petroleum are used each day for transportation in the United States, what is the
total daily petroleum consumption by all sources in the United States?

70. Pollution. Each year, 540 million metric tons (t) of carbon dioxide are added to the
atmosphere by the United States. Burning gasoline and other transportation fuels is
responsible for 35% of the carbon dioxide emissions in the United States. How much
carbon dioxide is emitted each year by the burning of transportation fuels in the
United States?

71. The progress of the local Lions club is shown below. What percent of the goal has
been achieved so far?

Goal: $40,000
40,000

35,000
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30,000

25,000

20,000

15,000

10,000

5,000

219
ANSWERS

72.
In Exercises 72 to 76, use the following number line.
73.
A C E D B
74.
72. Length AC is what percent of length AB? 73. Length AD is what percent of AB?
75.
74. Length AE is what percent of AB? 75. Length AE is what percent of AD?
76.
76. Length AC is what percent of AE?
a.

b.
Getting Ready for Section 2.7 [Section 1.2]
c.
Locate each of the following numbers on the number line.
d.
(a) 4 (b) 5 (c) 3 (d) 2
e. 7 2
(e)  (f) (g) 2.5 (h) 1.1
2 3
f.

g.
5 4 3 2 1 0 1 2 3 4 5

h.

Answers
1. 23% 3. 250% 5. 37.5% 7. 23% 9. 200 11. 350
13. R: 5%; A: Commission; B: $40,000 15. A: 5; R: percent; B: 30
17. A: $3.30; R: 5.5%; B: selling price 19. A: students; B: 9000; R: 6%
21. $408 23. $143 25. 5% 27. 1.5% 29. 25 questions
31. $5000 33. $16.64 35. $8125 37. 8.5% 39. 25%
41. 1200 people 43. $950 45. $732 47. $156,250 49. 12%
51. 15% 53. $34,500 55. 1200 employees 57. $65 59. 76%
61. 15% 63. $4494.40 65. $4630.50 67. 74.6%
69. 17.22 million bbl 71. 37.5% 73. 75% 75. 50%
a.h.
b e c h f d g a

5 4 3 2 1 0 1 2 3 4 5

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220