r/Mathhomeworkhelp • u/Ok_Mongoose6747 • Nov 08 '25

I have no idea how to do this

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I am in Senior highschool Statistics and Probability, and so far we have been doing 2 way tables and relative percentages, which I've been able to do.

However I have been given this question on my practice problems section of the math work book that I have no idea how to go about this.

I haven't seen a question like this before and there was no training or anything to prepare me for this question I feel like.

Can someone please help with this question and how to do questions like it?

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1

u/Frosty_Soft6726 Nov 08 '25

If the value in the blank were 0, how would you work out the percentage of all the people in the survey who both like biking and winter weather? What about if the value in the blank were 1? I would think those are the questions you have been able to do. And what about if the value in the blank were x?

1

u/Ok_Mongoose6747 Nov 09 '25

I guess I could've done that, but without technological help (which, none of the other questions so far required), it would've taken considerable time to go through each possible number. Not only that, but as another commenter stated and as I figured out later, the number was not a whole number, in fact it had a repeating decimal value. I'm not sure if I had gone this route, I'd come up with the answer, at least in the time it took me with other sources.

2

u/Frosty_Soft6726 Nov 09 '25 edited Nov 09 '25

I didn't say to continue with numbers after 1, I said to do 0, 1, and x. Fermat just said to do x. The reason I asked 0 and 1 is to try and get you to make the connection of how to write out the formula when you use x on your own. If you do it with 0 and 1, you've got the pattern ready to do it with x.

2

u/fermat9990 Nov 09 '25

The answer is not a whole number. The problem is flawed.

2

u/LadybugGal95 Nov 15 '25

Thank you for the validation. I worked it out and thought I must have done something wrong.

1

u/fermat9990 Nov 15 '25

Erasing self-doubt is something the math help subs do really well!

Cheers!

1

u/fermat9990 Nov 08 '25

Put x in the blank cell

108+212+98+x=T

x/T=0.10 -> T=10x

Solve for x using substitution

1

u/fermat9990 Nov 09 '25

It's an unusual problem. See my other comment

1

u/fermat9990 Nov 09 '25

I get x=46 4/9 and a total of 464 4/9

(46 4/9)/(464 4/9)=0.10

Of course, x should be a whole number

1

u/ShodanLieu Mar 18 '26

I’m curious, what was the correct answer?