document.write( "<A HREF=/cgi-bin/jump-to-question.mpl?question=1938>Question 1938</A>: <I><SPAN STYLE=\"word-break: break-all;\"> I am having some problems trying to figure out the formula for this word problem....can you help?\r<BR>\n" );
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document.write( "A taste test with 200 randomly selected people found that only three of them said that they would buy a box of new Glazed Cheerio's cereal.  How many boxes could the manufacturer expect to sell in a country of 280 million people?\r<BR>\n" );
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document.write( "--I started with 3/200=x/280million and didn't get much farther than that. </SPAN>\n" );
document.write( "</I><HR><TABLE width=100%><TR><TD><B><A HREF=http://www.algebra.com/>Algebra.Com's</A> Answer #748 by </B><A HREF=/tutors/aboutme.mpl?userid=longjonsilver><B>longjonsilver(2297)</B></A><img src=\"/images/stars/stars-13.gif\" alt=\"\" >&nbsp;<A HREF=/tutors/aboutme.mpl?userid=longjonsilver><IMG SRC=http://www.algebra.com/images/aboutme-small.gif BORDER=0 alt=\"About Me\" VALIGN=MIDDLE></A>&nbsp;<IMG SRC=http://www.algebra.com/cgi-bin/show-face.mpl?user=longjonsilver><BR>You can <A HREF=\"/cgi-bin/embed-solution.mpl?show=1&solution=748\">put this solution on YOUR website!</A><BR><SPAN STYLE=\"word-break: break-all;\"> to be honest, no formula needed, this is just a ratio question.\r<BR>\n" );
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document.write( "Start with what you know, then find what 1 is, then find what you are asked for.\r<BR>\n" );
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document.write( "so, we know from 200 there would be 3<BR>\n" );
document.write( "so, we infer therefore that a sample of 1 would have (3/200) buyers (yes, this is nonsensical, but it gets you there.<BR>\n" );
document.write( "so we imply again that in a sample of 280 million (280,000,000) there would be (3/200)*280000000 = 4,200,000 buyers.\r<BR>\n" );
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document.write( "There may well be an \"instant\" method, but this 3 line approach can be used for unit conversion questions - they are tackled all in the same way. It has never let me down and i never confuse myself and there is no \"formula\" to remember either :-)\r<BR>\n" );
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document.write( "jon. </SPAN>\n" );
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