Question

Mr. Kerr grabbed a handful of of pencils from his drawer. Nine pencils were sharpened and 6 pencils were unsharpened. What percent of the total pencils were unsharpened?

Answer 1

It is impossible to know for sure but it is possible to make an estimate based on the handful.

Explanation:

The handful of pencil that Mr. Kerr grabbed is a random sample.
The random sample may not actually represent the total but it is probable that the random sample is proportional to the total.

Assuming that the random sample grabbed is proportional the percentage of unsharpened pencils can be calculated.

6 = the part x % = the part

`9 + 6 = 15` = the total 100% = the total.

so the proportion would be

`6/15 = %/100` multiple both sides by 100

`100 xx 6/15 = 100 xx %/100` This gives

40= %

The likely percentage of unsharpened pencils is 40%
The exact percentage can not be known from a random sample.