A sporting goods store has sold 65% of its inventory of a popular brand of basketball shoes.

Question

If the store sold 166 pairs of basketball shoes, how many pairs did it have to begin with? Round your answer to the nearest whole number.

? = 108 shoes

? = 231 shoes

? = 255 shoes

? = 101 shoes

Answer 1

Let the total number of pairs of basketball shoes the store had initially be represented as \( x \).

According to the problem, the store has sold 65% of its inventory, which can be expressed mathematically as:

\[ 0.65x = 166 \]

To find \( x \), we divide both sides of the equation by 0.65:

\[ x = \frac{166}{0.65} \]

Calculating the right side:

\[ x \approx 255.38 \]

Rounding to the nearest whole number:

\[ x \approx 255 \]

Therefore, the store originally had approximately 255 pairs of basketball shoes.

The correct answer from the given options is:

? = 255 shoes.