A grandmother makes 5 pies for a large family dinner. Each pie has 8 pieces and at the end of the meal, she finds that 34 pieces of pie have been eaten. What percentage of pie will be thrown out?

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

To find the percentage, we first must find the number of pieces that will be thrown out and divide by the total number of pies. The problem tells us that there are 5 pies with 8 pieces each. We know that 5 • 8 = 40, so now we know that there were 40 pieces of pie to start. Now, we have to find how many pieces were left. The problem tells us that 34 pieces of pie were eaten, so we simply subtract 34 from the total number of pieces (40). 40 - 34 = 6 So, now we know that she will be throwing out 6 pieces of pie. Since percentages are also a representation of "a part of a whole" we can write it as a fraction. Create a fraction to represent the part (the number of slices being thrown away) and the whole (the total number of pieces at the beginning). ⁶/₄₀ Then, divide the numerator by the denominator. 0.15 Finally, convert the decimal to a percentage by multiplying the decimal by 100 (since the percentage represents a number out of 100). 15% of the pie pieces will be thrown out.

A Grandmother Makes 5 Pies for a Large Family Dinner