Terrence has a length of rope that is 14 3/14 meters long. Forty percent of the rope's length is covered by a plastic film that makes it waterproof. What length of the rope is not waterproof?

1 Answer
Oct 17, 2017

See a solution process below:

Explanation:

First, to make things easier, let's convert the length of the rope from a mixed number to an improper fraction:

14 3/14 = 14 + 3/14 = (14/14 xx 14) + 3/14 = 196/14 + 3/14 = 199/14

If 40% of the rope is covered in plastic film then 60% of the rope is not. (100% - 40% = 60%)

To find the the length of rope that is not waterproof we need to find:

What is 60% of 199/14

"Percent" or "%" means "out of 100" or "per 100", Therefore 60% can be written as 60/100.

So we can write and evaluate:

60/100 xx 199/14 =>

(60 xx 199)/(100 xx 14) =>

(60 xx 199)/(100 xx 14) =>

11940/1400 =>

(20 xx 597)/(20 xx 70) =>

(color(red)(cancel(color(black)(20))) xx 597)/(color(red)(cancel(color(black)(20))) xx 70) =>

597/70 =>

(560 + 37)/70 =>

560/70 + 37/70 =>

8 + 37/70 =>

8 37/70

8 37/70 meters of the rope is not waterproof.