There are four defenders on a soccer team. If this represents 20 percent of the players on the team, which equation can be used to find the total number of players on the team?

StartFraction 4 divided by 1 Over 20 divided by 1 EndFraction = StartFraction 4 Over 20 EndFraction
StartFraction 4 times 20 Over 100 times 20 EndFraction = StartFraction 80 Over 200 EndFraction
StartFraction 20 times 25 Over 4 times 25 EndFraction = StartFraction 500 Over 100 EndFraction
StartFraction 20 divided by 5 Over 100 divided by 5 EndFraction = StartFraction 4 Over 20 EndFraction

1 answer

To find the total number of players on the team based on the information that 4 defenders represent 20 percent of the players, we can set up a simple equation.

Let \( x \) be the total number of players on the team. Since 20 percent of \( x \) corresponds to the 4 defenders, we can write the equation:

\[ 0.2x = 4 \]

To find \( x \), we can solve for \( x \):

\[ x = \frac{4}{0.2} \]

This simplifies to:

\[ x = 4 \times 5 = 20 \]

Now, let's analyze the equation options provided to see if they match this logic.

  1. StartFraction 4 divided by 1 Over 20 divided by 1 EndFraction = StartFraction 4 Over 20 EndFraction

    • This does not represent the concept well.
  2. StartFraction 4 times 20 Over 100 times 20 EndFraction = StartFraction 80 Over 200 EndFraction

    • This simplifies to \( \frac{80}{200} \) or \( \frac{4}{10} \), which doesn’t directly help in finding \( x \).
  3. StartFraction 20 times 25 Over 4 times 25 EndFraction = StartFraction 500 Over 100 EndFraction

    • This also does not help in finding \( x \) as it represents a different calculation.
  4. StartFraction 20 divided by 5 Over 100 divided by 5 EndFraction = StartFraction 4 Over 20 EndFraction

    • This reduces to \( \frac{4}{20} \), which is \( 20% \), but doesn't directly answer the question for \( x \).

None of the provided options give a straightforward equation for 0.2x = 4.

Thus, the correct equation for determining the total number of players based on the data provided is:

\[ 0.2x = 4 \]

This can also be framed in another way: ( \frac{4}{x} = 0.2 ) OR ( 4 = 0.2x )

From these, we can derive the total number of players.