Question

A middle school took all of its 6th grade students on a field trip to see a play at a theater that has 1700 seats. The students left 1037 seats vacant. What percentage of the seats in the theater were filled by the 6th graders on the trip?

Answer 1

To find the percentage of the seats that were filled by the 6th graders, we first need to calculate how many seats were occupied.

The total number of seats in the theater is 1700, and the number of vacant seats is 1037. We can find the number of occupied seats by subtracting the number of vacant seats from the total number of seats:

\[
\text{Occupied seats} = \text{Total seats} - \text{Vacant seats} = 1700 - 1037 = 663
\]

Next, to find the percentage of seats filled by the 6th graders, we use the formula for percentage:

\[
\text{Percentage filled} = \left( \frac{\text{Occupied seats}}{\text{Total seats}} \right) \times 100
\]

Substituting the values we have:

\[
\text{Percentage filled} = \left( \frac{663}{1700} \right) \times 100
\]

Now, we perform the division:

\[
\frac{663}{1700} \approx 0.389
\]

Then, we multiply by 100 to convert it to a percentage:

\[
0.389 \times 100 \approx 38.9
\]

Rounding this to one decimal place, we find:

\[
\text{Percentage filled} \approx 38.9\%
\]

Thus, approximately **38.9%** of the seats in the theater were filled by the 6th graders on the trip.