IXL | Solve percent word problems

The city council voted on a new tax. The council has 35 members and 20% of the council members voted in favor of the new tax. How many members voted in favor of the tax?

city council members

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Learn with an example

question

Mandy bought cupcakes for her sister's birthday party. 6 cupcakes had sprinkles on top. The other 9 cupcakes did not have sprinkles. What percentage of the cupcakes had sprinkles?

Write your answer using a percent sign (%).

key idea

A percent is 1 part out of 100.

1%
is
equal
to
1
100
or
0.01.

Proportions can be used to solve percent problems.

part

whole

percent

100

solution

Find the total number of cupcakes.

6 + 9 = 15

The part is 6.

The whole is 15.

Let n represent the percent.

Write a proportion to solve for n.

100

6 · 100

15n

600

15n

600 ÷ 15

15n ÷ 15

40% of the cupcakes had sprinkles.

You could also find the answer by writing and solving an equation:

part

percentage of whole

100

15n

100

0.15

40% of the cupcakes had sprinkles.

Looking for more? Try these:

Lesson: Percents

Lesson: Converting between fractions, decimals, and percents

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Time
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Teacher tools

Work it out

Not feeling ready yet? These can help:

V.10Solve percent problems

V.3Solve percent problems using strip models

V.2Solve percent problems using grid models

Lesson: Percents

Lesson: Converting between fractions, decimals, and percents

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