Skip to main content

Section 2.7 Percentages

Worksheet Problem Situation: The Language of Percentages
A4US

The World Health Organization (www.who.org) is the part of the United Nations that oversees health issues in the world. The WHO leads numerous studies on tobacco use around the world. In its study on Gender and Tobacco, the organization learned that tobacco use among women is increasing. For example, recent research shows that just as many young girls smoke as young boys. The report is filled with information about percentages of women who smoke, percentages of men who smoke, and the percentage of smokers who start smoking by age 10. The language used to describe this information can be difficult to understand. Pay close attention to the language used to describe a percent at the beginning of this lesson. This will help you to understand new findings in the relationship between tobacco use and gender.

Consider the following two quantities:

  • Quantity 1 (Q1): The percentage of women who smoke.

  • Quantity 2 (Q2): The percentage of smokers who are women.

1.

Are these two quantities necessarily equal?

2.

For each quantity, what information would you need to compute these percentages?

For Quantity 1 (Q1): (select all you would need)

  • Total number of smokers in the population

  • Total number of women in the population

  • Total number of women smokers in the population

For Quantity 2 (Q2): (select all you would need)

  • Total number of smokers in the population

  • Total number of women in the population

  • Total number of women smokers in the population

Exercise Group.

Suppose a study on smoking was conducted at Midland University. The following table indicates the results of the study. Use this table for the next 3 questions.

Table 2.7.1.
Men Women
Smokers 4,572 5,362
Nonsmokers 10,284 12,736
3.
What percentage of women smoke at Midland University (round to the nearest one percent)?
4.
What percentage of smokers at Midland University are women (round to the nearest one percent)?
5.
How many women would need to stop smoking for the percentage of women who smoke to drop below 20%?

Exercise Group.

Suppose a study on smoking was conducted at Northwest College. The following table indicates the results of the study. Use this table for the next 4 questions.

Table 2.7.2.
Men Women
Smokers 1,256 536
Nonsmokers 1,028 1,053
6.
What percentage of women smoke at Northwest College (round to the nearest one percent)?
7.
What percentage of smokers at Northwest College are women (round to the nearest one percent)?
8.

Just looking at the data, without making any calculations, which of the following statements is true?

  • More than 70% of men smoke

  • More than 50% of men smoke

  • Less than 25% of men smoke

  • Less than 50% of men smoke

9.
Men smokers make up what percentage of the total student body (rounded to the nearest one percent)?

Exercise Group.

In 2006, the World Health Organization conducted a study about smoking in the United States and China. The organization reports that 3.7% of the adult women in China smoke tobacco products. In the United States, 19% of adult women smoke. Without using a calculator, answer the following questions.
10.
Out of 100 adult women in China, about how many are smokers? (Give a whole number of people)
11.
Out of 1000 adult women in China, about how many are smokers?
12.
Out of 100 adult women in the United States, about how many are smokers?
13.
Out of 1000 adult women in the United States, about how many are smokers?
14.
Are there more women smokers in China or the United States?

  • More in China

  • More in the United States

  • Not enough information given to tell

15.
Suppose you read that 590 out of 1,000 men in China smoke. Based on these data, what percentage of men in China smoke?

Exercise Group.

A teacher has collected data on the grades his students received in his two classes. The following tables show two different ways to represent the same data.

Table 2.7.3. Table 1
Grades
A B C D F
Morning Class 12.50% 25.00% 37.50% 6.30% 18.80%
Afternoon Class 14.30% 20.00% 37.10% 8.60% 20.00%
Table 2.7.4. Table 2
Grades
A B C D F
Morning Class 44.4% 53.3% 48.0% 40.0% 46.2%
Afternoon Class 55.6% 46.7% 52.0% 60.0% 53.8%
16.

Which table could be used to answer the following question: “What percentage of the students who received an A are in the morning class?”

  • Table 1

  • Table 2

  • Neither table

17.

Which table could be used to answer the following question: “What percentage of the students in the morning class received an A?”

  • Table 1

  • Table 2

  • Neither table