This is a lot of information at once, so break down the question step by step!
1) You are told that 34.6% of Mr. Camp's class of 26 students reported that they have at least 2 siblings. Find the number of students in his class that have at least two siblings by multiplying 0.346 (the decimal form of 34.6%) by 26:
0.346 x 26 = 9 students
However, be careful! Notice that you want the number of students with fewer than 2 siblings. That means you need to subtract 9 from 26 to find the number of students with less than 2 siblings:
26 - 9 = 17 students
2) You are told that there are 1800 eighth-grade classes in the state, and the average size of the classes is 26. That means you can assume that there are 1800 classes of 26 in the state.
Since you are told that Mr. Camp's class is representative of students in the state's 8th grade classes. That means in the state, for each class of 26, 17 students (the number we figured out in step 1) have fewer than two siblings!
For each of the 1800 classes of 26, 17 students have fewer than two siblings. That means you need to multiply 1800 classes by 17 students per class to get your final answer, which is answer C:
1800 x 17 = 30,600
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Answer: C) 30,600
