CLASS 1 PERCENTAGES
PERCENTAGES
Percents can be tricky. Here are some problems that point out some of the
pitfalls of percents.
DISCUSSION
1. Which would be better: to become 50% richer and then 50% poorer or to
become 50% poorer and then 50% richer, or to have your fortune remain
constant?
2. The recipe for pizza in Laurel's Kitchen says: Let the dough rise only
once, about 1 and 1/2 hours'. How long should you let the dough rise if you
use Fleischmann's Rapid Rise Yeast, whose package states that it `rises
50%faster'?
3. The following question was submitted to Marilyn vos Savant.
I'm having a problem with the illustration below, which was
captioned, ``Men consume about 76%of all alcoholic beverages.
Percentage consumed:"
I understood the statement to mean: Of people who drink, 76%are
men, and 24%are women. But the illustration seems to suggest: Of
alcohol consumed, 57%is men, and 43%is by women (averaging the
four categories). Help! -K.B., Highland, Ind.
How should Marilyn answer this question?
4. A series of 12 monthly Tantalene injections ($450apiece) reduces the
5-year death toll from lemon meringue disease from 3 per 10,000,000 to 1 per
10,000,000. Suppose that you work for an advertising agency representing the
makers of Tantalene, and your job is to get doctors to prescribe Tantalene
injections for as many of their patients as possible. How would you express
this change in mortality rate using percents?
Homework assignments
Read Chapter 1 &2 and do the following problems. Page 19, No. 2, 3, 5, 6, 8,
12; Page 22, No. 2, 4, 9, 10, 11
Journal assignment for Wednesday, October 4
Read the current Chance News. Find an article that interests you and read
the full text of the article. Write your comments on the article in your
journal.
Homework assignment to be handed in with Journal due October 4.