Question

seven out of every 8 students surveyed owns a bike. The difference between the number of students who own a bike and those who do not is 72. How many students were surveyed?

Answer 1

So if x people were surveyed, $\frac{7}{8}$ people owned a bike and $\frac{1}{8}$  did not.

The difference between them is 72:
$\frac{7}{8}$ x-\frac{1}{8} [/tex] =72
so this means that
$\frac{6}{8}$ x=72

let's simplify:

$\frac{3}{4}$ x=72

and divide by 3:

$\frac{1}{4}$ x=24

and mupliply by 4:

x=96

so 96 people were surveyed