Question

Over summer, a dam’s water volume reduces from 20 megalitres to 4 megalitres. What fraction of the water in the dam has been lost?

Answer 1

Hey there! I’m happy to help!

Let’s first subtract 4 from 20 to see how much was lost.

20-4=16

Now, we see that 16 is a certain percent of twenty that we want to find. When talking about percents, the word “is” represents an equal sign. So, we can write this equation. We will have p represent our prevent.

16=20p (16 is a certain percent of 20)

Now, we solve by dividing both sides of the equation by 20 to isolate the p.

p=0.8

0.8 is 80% or 4/5, so 4/5 of the dam water has been lost.

Have a wonderful day! :D