How-to books make up 0.3 of the books in the school library. Of these, 0.2 deal with carpentry and 0.4 deal with electronics. 0.3 x 0.4 = 0.12. Interpret what the answer 0.12 represents in this equation above.

Question

A: the portion of the books in the library that are how-to books on electronics.
B: the portion of books in the library that are how-to books on carpentry.
C: the portion of books in the library that are how-to books.
D: the portion of how-to books that are either carpentry or electronics.

Answer 1

To interpret the answer \( 0.12 \) from the equation \( 0.3 \times 0.4 \):

• The \( 0.3 \) represents the proportion of books in the library that are how-to books.
• The \( 0.4 \) represents the proportion of how-to books that deal with electronics.

Therefore, \( 0.3 \times 0.4 = 0.12 \) represents the portion of all books in the library that are how-to books on electronics.

Thus, the correct interpretation is: A: the portion of the books in the library that are how-to books on electronics.