Question

if the number of cars sold is proportional to the number of salesmen,and three salesmen sold eleven cars,how many could five salesmen have sold? round to the nearest whole number

Answer 1

Five sales men could sell 18 cars

Solution:

The number of cars sold is proportional to the number of salesmen

$\text{Number of cars sold } \propto \text{Number of salesmen }$

Let "c" be the number of cars sold

Let "s" be the number of salesmen

Then we get,

$c \propto s$

c = ks -------- eqn 1

Where "k" is the constant of proportionality

Three salesmen sold eleven cars

Therefore, substitute s = 3 and c = 11 in eqn 1

$11 = k \times 3\\\\k = \frac{11}{3} = 3.67$

How many could five salesmen have sold ?

Therefore, s = 5 and c = ?

Substitute s = 5 and k = 3.67 in eqn 1

$c = 3.67 \times 5\\\\c = 18.35 \approx 18$

Thus five men sold 18 cars