Question

The population of polar bears is currently 900 in the southern Beaufort sea. This is a 40% decline from the population in 2001. What was the population of polar bears in the region in 2001?

Answer 1

There were 1,500 polar bears in 2001.

Explanation:

We can write a proportion to solve this problem.

`(900)/(x)` =
`(60)/(100)`

90000 = 60x --- cross multiply the fractions

x = 1500 --- divide both sides by 60

There were 1,500 polar bears in 2001.