Question

Javier works in a photo lab and needs to make a reduced copy of a photograph that is 8 inches long. The customer wants the copy to have a length of 4.5 inches. Each time he presses the reduce button on the copier, the copy is reduced by 12%. Javier and his boss had an argument, because Javier claimed that pressing the button 5 times would be enough to fulfill the customer's request. His boss said that pressing the button 5 times would result in a length less than the desired 4.5 inches. Which of the following conclusions can be made?

Answer 1

So, there's total 8 inches and the customer wants to make 4.5 inches long.
Each time he press the reduce button is 12%. He pressed 5 times, so.

12 x 5 = 60%
60% of the 8 = is 4.8 inches

So the conclusion is that his boss is wrong.