Walkabout
Of the final grades received by the students in a certain math course, 1/5 are A's, 1/4 are B's, 1/2 are C's, and the remaining 10 grades are D's. What is the number of students in the course?
(A) 80
(B) 110
(C) 160
(D) 200
(E) 400
We start by creating a variable for the total number of students in the math course. We can say:
T = Total number of students in the math course
Next, we can use variable T in an equation that we translate from the given information. We are given that, of the final grades received by the students in a certain math course, 1/5 are A's, 1/4 are B's, 1/2 are C's, and the remaining 10 grades are D's. Since this represents all the grades in the class, it represents all the students in the class. Thus we know:
#A’s + #B’s + #C’s + #D’s = Total number of students in the class
1/5(T) + ¼(T) + ½(T) + 10 = T
We can multiply the entire equation by 20 to cancel out the denominators of the fractions and we have:
4T + 5T + 10T + 200 = 20T
19T + 200 = 20T
200 = T
There are a total of 200 students in the math class.
Answer is D.