Question

Laura ordered a set of blue and black pencils. She received 120 pencils, and 59% of them were black. About how many black pencils did Laura receive? A. 72, B. 48, C. 192, D. 120

Answer 1

59% of the 120 pencils are black.

59% = .59

.59 * 120 =  70.8 pencils

Closest option is A) 72 pencils

Answer 2

Without doing the math, you can tell the answer is A.
50% of 120 pencils is 60 pencils. From there you just use process of elimination. It can't be B because there are over 50% black pencils. There aren't enough pencils in total for the answer to be C and not all penciled are black, so it can't possibly be D. That leaves us with A which is quite close to 50%.

Another method would be multiplying 120 by 60% (round 59%), which equals 72 pencils (A)