Question

Suppose you want to make a reduced copy of a photograph that has an actual length of 8 inches. Each time you press the reduce button on the copier, the copy is reduced by 12%. What is the length of the photograph's copy if you press the reduce button 5 times? Round to the nearest hundredth.

Answer 1

The length is 4.22 inches. The first time you press the button, the copy becomes 1-12%=88% of its original length. When you press it again, it becomes 88%*88% of its original length. By the same reasoning, if you press it for 5 times, the final length is 8*(88%)^5=4.22 inches rounded to the nearest hundredth.