This type of problem is very easy.  You merely need to translate the text into the form of an equation.  For this, remember that "of" is translated as multiplication and "is" as equality.  This gives us the following.

Quantity A:

 is  of 

Becomes...

Quantity B:

  is  of 

Becomes...

Therefore, the two quantities are equal.

To solve this problem we must first find what percent of the money in the bag is in nickels. We know that combined, quarters and  dimes make up 40% of the coins and that the rest are nickels. Therefore 60% of the money in the bag are nickels. We then multiply the total amount of coins in the bag with that percentage in order to find out how many nickels are in the bag.  .  There are 300 nickels in the bag and nickels are worth 5 cents each. Therefore  worth of nickels in the bag.

divide: 36/145 = 0.248; multiply by 100 to get percent

24.8%

36 is x% of 133

that means that 36 = (x%)(133)

x% = 36/133 X 100 = 27%

Belinda walks faster than Max, so she should walk over a mile in the same time that Max walks 1 mile. We can eliminate the answer choices that aren't over a mile. It takes Max 3 minutes longer to walk a mile, so Belinda will walk for 3 more minutes after she finishes her first mile. If she walks 1 mile in 12 minutes, she walks 1/12 miles in 1 minute, or 3/12 = 1/4 mile in 3 minutes. So she walks 1 1/4 miles, or 5/4 miles.

Let's first pick numbers.  If y = 25, x = 100.  It's tempting to pick 25% as the answer, but x is greater than y, so the percentage must be greater than 100%.  x is four times y, or 400% of y.

The total cost of the sweater is the original cost plus a 4.5% tax, which can be expressed in the equation:

Where TC is the total cost, C is the original cost, and T is the tax.  Now, we will plug in the information we know.  Since the original cost of the sweater is unknown, we will use the variable x.  

.045 is the decimal expression of 4.5%.  

Now, solve for x.  Consolidate the x variable.

Divide both sides by 1.045.

 is the cost of the sweater before tax.

Remember: For all percentage problems, you need to convert your percentage to a decimal before working on your equation.

You can solve this problem one of two ways.  The first way, which is less efficient, is to multiply the original amount by the tax rate and then add that to the original:

 or: 

The easier way to do this is to multiply your original amount by  plus the tax rate.  (This does the addition for you in one step.)

 or: 

Notice that your problem is asking for the total new cost, not the amount of tax to be added!

Remember: For all percentage problems, you need to convert your percentage to a decimal before working on your equation.

The easiest way to solve this problem is to convert it into a clear sentence.  The question is asking, "What percentage of  is ?"  This is the same thing as writing:

(Recall, "of" becomes multiplication and "is" becomes equals.)

Solve this by dividing both sides by :

This means that  is  of .  In other words, it is a  increase to .  This is the tax rate.

Remember: For all percentage problems, you need to convert your percentage to a decimal before working on your equation.

This problem is very simple, for you only have to compute the tax amount in dollars—not the complete price.  

Therefore, you merely need to multiply the original price by the tax rate.  

This gives you: