Question

In a neighborhood, 5 % of the houses have red mailboxes. A student counts 60 red mailboxes in the neighborhood. Which of the following is the total number of houses in the neighborhood?

a) 1200 houses
b) 600 houses
c) 1000 houses
d) 300 houses

Answer 1

The total number of houses in the neighborhood is calculated by dividing the number of red mailboxes (60) by the percentage of houses with red mailboxes (5%). The calculation reveals that there are 1200 houses in total.

Step-by-step explanation:

The question asks us to find the total number of houses in the neighborhood given that 5% of the houses have red mailboxes, and there are 60 red mailboxes in total. To calculate this, we can set up a proportion where 5% (or 0.05 when converted to a decimal) of the total number of houses is equal to 60 houses. The equation will look something like this:

Total number of houses x 0.05 = 60

To find the total number of houses, we divide both sides of the equation by 0.05:

Total number of houses = 60 / 0.05

When we perform the division, we get:

Total number of houses = 1200

Therefore, the total number of houses in the neighborhood is 1200, which corresponds to option (a).