SOLUTION: I have no idea if this is the right topic, but oh well. Here is the problem I am doing or the lesson is called percentage of change. I am using the formula, new amount-old amount

Algebra ->  Percentages: Solvers, Trainers, Word Problems and pie charts -> SOLUTION: I have no idea if this is the right topic, but oh well. Here is the problem I am doing or the lesson is called percentage of change. I am using the formula, new amount-old amount      Log On


   

Question 352790: I have no idea if this is the right topic, but oh well. Here is the problem I am doing or the lesson is called percentage of change. I am using the formula,
new amount-old amount/old amount=%/100. Here goes( this is also proportions/cross-multiplying)"During June a car dealer sold 250 new cars. During July he sold 14% fewer cars. How many cars did he sell in July?"
I tried it and got x-250/250=14/100 then I cross multiplied and also got 100x-25000=3500, I added 25000 to each side making it 100x=28500. I then divided each side by 100 making x=$285. Is this right? I am doing it multiple choice and that is not one of the answers. Thank you very much for your help ahead of time.
Answer by jim_thompson5910(35256) About Me  (Show Source):
You can put this solution on YOUR website!
Right off the bat you can tell that this answer is incorrect. In June, he sold 250 cars and in July he sold 14% fewer cars. So the answer has to be smaller than 250.


So because "new" is smaller than "old", this means that the formula is actually


old amount-new amount/old amount=%/100


To make sure that the left side is a positive number.


So this means that the equation is %28250-x%29%2F250=14%2F100


I'll let you take it from here. You should get x=215 as an answer (which is indeed smaller than 250).