HSPT Math : Percentages

Study concepts, example questions & explanations for HSPT Math

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Example Questions

Example Question #81 : Arithmetic

Pie_graph

Refer to the above diagram. If there were 15,934 voters who were affiliated with a political party in Smith County in 2009, how many voters (nearest whole number) were there total?

Possible Answers:

Correct answer:

Explanation:

40% of the voters were registered as independents, so 60% were registered as a member of a political party. Since 60% of the voters numbered 15,934, we can find the total number of voters by setting up and solving a proportion:

which rounds to 26,557 voters.

 

Example Question #82 : Arithmetic

Pie_graph

Refer to the above graph. If there were 17,856 registered voters in Smith County in 2009, how many voters were registered as neither Republicans nor Democrats (nearest whole number)?

Possible Answers:

Correct answer:

Explanation:

2% of the voters were registered as members of other parties, and 40% were unaffiliated, so we want to calculate 42% of 17,856, or, equivalently, 

which, to the nearest whole number, rounds to 7,500 voters.

Example Question #5 : How To Find The Whole From The Part With Percentage

Julie bought some groceries at the store where she works for $196.57. She got an employee discount of 15%. How much would the same groceries cost a non-employee?

Possible Answers:

Correct answer:

Explanation:

Paying at a 15% discount is equvalent to paying 85% of the original price, so $196.57 is 85% of the original (non-employee) price, or, equivalently, 0.85 times that price. If  is that price, then we can set up and solve the equation:

A non-employee would pay $231.26 for the groceries.

Example Question #21 : Percentages

Becky ate  of a batch of cupcakes. She ate  cupcakes. How many cupcakes were there in total?

Possible Answers:

Correct answer:

Explanation:

This can be solved using a proportion:

Cross multiply and solve for :

Example Question #22 : Percentages

For her birthday, Susan asks her mother to buy her a car. Susan’s mother agrees to give Susan 150 percent of whatever amount Susan can save up in six months. If Susan saves , how much does Susan’s mother owe her?

Possible Answers:

$550

$900

 

 

 

 

$700

$300

$750

Correct answer:

$900

 

 

 

 

Explanation:

When Susan's mother agreed to match her savings plus fifty percent, she agreed to give Susan % plus %.  

Before multiplying by the amount Susan saved, we must convert % to a decimal by dividing by .

Now we multiply time $.

Susan's mother owes her $.

Example Question #23 : Percentages

If sales tax on a pair of jeans is , and the jeans cost  before tax, what is the final price of the jeans including tax?

Possible Answers:

$56

$60

$62

$66

$58

Correct answer:

$58

Explanation:

Since the jeans are the only item being purchased, and they cost $, we must first find % of $.  In order to do that we multiply $ by the decimal form of %, which is .

Note: In order to find the decimal form of a percent, we divide it by .  

Find the tax:

 

Therefore the sales tax added to the original price is $

The final cost of the jeans is $.

 

Example Question #24 : Percentages

If Suzie's birthday cake costs $15 and it is on sale for 25% off how much will she pay at the register?

Possible Answers:

Correct answer:

Explanation:

To find the answer you must first convert the sales percentage to a decimal by moving the decimal left two places yielding 

Then multiply the total cost by the decimal .

We then subtract the sales number from the original cost to get the answer:

Example Question #2 : Number Concepts And Operations

There are 500 students at the high school. There are only two menu options: chicken or fish. If 15% of students ordered fish, how many students ordered chicken?

Possible Answers:

Correct answer:

Explanation:

If 15% of students ordered fish, then 85% of the students must have ordered chicken. Then multiply 85% or .

Example Question #63 : Algebraic Concepts

A college has students. If percent of them are boys, how many girls are there?

 

Possible Answers:

Correct answer:

Explanation:

percent of the students are boys, so percent of the students are girls.

Let = number of girls.

Then we can set up the following proportion:

 

 

 

Example Question #834 : Isee Upper Level (Grades 9 12) Mathematics Achievement

In appreciation for a job well done, Loretta is being awarded a bonus equal to 7.5% of the salary she earned over the last two years. Her monthly salary over the last twelve months was $3,500 per month; she received a raise of $500 per month twelve months ago. What is the amount of the bonus?

Possible Answers:

Correct answer:

Explanation:

Loretta earned $3,000 per month for twelve months, and $3,500 per month for the following twelve months. This is a total of 

earned over two years. 7.5% of this is 

,

the amount of Loretta's bonus.

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