Question

Last year a college admitted 32% of its applicants. If 1696 were admitted last year, how many students applied?

Answer 1

For this problem, you can use the proportion 1696/x = 32/100 since 1696 is 32% (or 32/100) of an unknown number of students . 
You can cross-multiply to get 32x = 169600
Then divide on both sides by 32 and get to 5300. 
Answer: 5300 student applied last year. 
Hope that helps!