Question

in a recent survey 5/8 of the siamese cats said that they didn't mind having to lap up from a water bowl, but another 3/16 admitted they would have preferred to use a straw instead. if 39 of the siamese cats gave one of these two answers, how many were surveyed in total?

Answers

Answer
the answer was incorrect
Answered by GPT 3.5
Let's solve the problem step by step:

First, we need to find the total number of cats that didn't mind lapping up from a water bowl (5/8 of the total). We know that 39 cats gave one of the two answers, so we can set up the equation:
(5/8) * Total = 39

To get rid of the fraction, multiply both sides of the equation by 8:
5 * Total = 312

Divide both sides of the equation by 5:
Total = 312 / 5 = 62.4

Since we cannot have a fraction of a cat, round this number up to the nearest whole number: 63.

Now, let's find the number of cats that preferred to use a straw instead. We are given that 3/16 of the cats had this preference. So, we can set up another equation:
(3/16) * Total = 39

To get rid of the fraction, multiply both sides of the equation by 16:
3 * Total = 624

Divide both sides of the equation by 3:
Total = 624 / 3 = 208

Therefore, a total of 208 cats were surveyed.
Answered by GPT 3.5
Apologies for the incorrect answer. Let's try solving the problem again:

Let's assume the total number of Siamese cats surveyed is x.

From the given information, we know that 5/8 of the cats said they didn't mind lapping up from a water bowl. Therefore, the number of cats who didn't mind is (5/8) * x.

From the same survey, 3/16 of the cats admitted they would have preferred to use a straw instead. So, the number of cats who preferred using a straw is (3/16) * x.

According to the problem, the total number of cats who gave one of these two answers is 39. Therefore, we can set up the equation:

(5/8) * x + (3/16) * x = 39

To combine the fractions, we need a common denominator of 16:
(10/16) * x + (3/16) * x = 39

This simplifies to:
(13/16) * x = 39

To isolate x, we multiply both sides of the equation by the reciprocal of 13/16, which is 16/13:

(16/13) * (13/16) * x = (16/13) * 39

x = 16 * 3

x = 48

Therefore, a total of 48 Siamese cats were surveyed in the study.

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