Question

In the library at lenape elementary school there are 2/5 as many fiction books as there are nonfiction books. There are 56 books in the school library. How many books are fiction book?

Answer 1

ANSWER

There are 16 fiction books

EXPLANATION

Let the number of nonfiction books be

$n$

Then the number of fiction books is

$f=\frac{2n}{5}$

If there are 56 books in the library, then

$n + f= 56$

This implies that,

$n + \frac{2n}{5} = 56$

Multiply through by 5 to get,

$5n + 2n = 280$

$7n= 280$

Divide through by 7 to get,

$n = \frac{280}{7}$

$n= 40$

Therefore the number of fiction books

$f=\frac{2\times40}{5}=16$

Or

$f=56 - 40 = 16$