I'm having a hard time with figuring out the increase and decrease with some decimals. Heres one question:
A companys budget has been reduced by 6% compared to last year. If their budget is now $3431, what is the budget for last year?
The answer I keep getting is $3636.86
I know the answer I keep getting is wrong and I do have the correct answer in my book. I somewhat get how everything works, but if you could please give a detail on how you got your answer, I'd really appreciate it. Thanks in advanced!
Also: if theres an easy way to understand how to do everything, could you let me know as well.
davemb782007-06-18T16:24:33Z
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The correct answer should be $3650 as you know (or hopefully the book has this as the answer).
Here's how you can do it:
Call the amount of the budget last year x dollars
6% of x dollars would be .06x
This represents how much of the budget is being cut. So subtract this from last years budget:
x - .06x = .94x
.94x represents the current budget, which is $3431. So:
.94x = 3431
Divide by .94. 3431/.94 = $3650.
I hope this helps.
Another way to look at it:
If the budget is cut by 6%, that means that you get to keep 94%. That means:
$3431 is 94% of last year.
3431 = .94 * last year (divide by .94 and you get the same result as above)
When the budget get reduced by 6% it means that if your budget was $100 the previous year,this year it is $ 94 If you want to solve the problem with the help of fraction,multipky this year's budget by 100/94, Last year's budget was 100/94 of 3431 =100/94*3431 =$3650 If however. you want to solve it with decimals,we may say that it was reduced by 6% or 0.06 and hence if it was $1.00 the earlier year,it is $1,00-$0.06 or $0.94 this year. Hence the budget last year was ( 1.00/0.94) multiplied by $3431 And if you forget every thing,here is the easiest wayof solving it Let the amount of budget be $x last year. Therefore the budget is $0.94x this year By the problem, 0.94x=3431 =>x=3431/0.94 [dividing both sides by0.94] =>x=$3650 Hope it helps
I get 3650. Here's how: 3431/0.94 = 3650. It seems like your way (3431 X 1.06) would work, but it's going the wrong way, so to speak. But, if you multiply 3650 by 0.94 it works. You can check by multiplying 3650 by 0.06, then subtracting that from 3650, and that comes out to 3431.60. If you multiply your answer by .06 and then subtract it from your original you'll find it doesn't work. So...checking the result is the best way to see if it is right, and in this case there are only two ways to arrive at an answer.