1: The harvest was cornucopian, as it was 45 percent greater than last year....?

Question

The harvest was cornucopian, as it was 45 percent greater than last year. If the yield was 140,795 bushels, how many bushels were harvested last year?

a.) 63,658 bushels
b.) 636,575 bushels
c.)97,100 bushels
d.) 971,000 bushels

Answer 1

,c

97,100 * 1.45 = 140795

Answer 2

Let x be last year's harvest.

x + 0.45 x = 140,795
(1 + 0.45)x = 140,795
1.45 x = 140,795
x = 140,795 / 1.45
x = 97,100

So the answer is c) 97,100

A quick way to estimate this would be to think of a 50% increase. You can immediately eliminate b) and d) since they are *more* than this year's harvest.

Looking at a), that's about 60,000 so 50% more would be 90,000... that doesn't come close to 140,795.

Looking at c) that's about 100,000 and 50% would be 150,000 bushels. This is close to 140,795, so you can intuitively figure that c) is the answer, then confirm with algebra.

Answer 3

X bushels this year.
last year 45% more
last year's yield
=1.45x
You can multiply present quantity by 1.45
tp get last year's yield

Answer 4

Answer is C. Divide 140,795 by 1.45 (the 45% increase from this year). You then get 97,100