Question

Jane moved from a house with 40 square feet of closet space to an apartment with 24.8 square feet of closet space. What is the percentage decrease of Jane's closet space?

Answer 1

To find the percentage decrease in Jane's closet space, we can follow these steps:

1. **Calculate the decrease in closet space**:
\[
\text{Decrease} = \text{Original closet space} - \text{New closet space} = 40 \text{ sq ft} - 24.8 \text{ sq ft} = 15.2 \text{ sq ft}
\]

2. **Calculate the percentage decrease**:
The percentage decrease is calculated by dividing the decrease by the original amount and then multiplying by 100 to get a percentage:
\[
\text{Percentage Decrease} = \left( \frac{\text{Decrease}}{\text{Original closet space}} \right) \times 100 = \left( \frac{15.2 \text{ sq ft}}{40 \text{ sq ft}} \right) \times 100
\]

3. **Calculate the result**:
\[
\frac{15.2}{40} = 0.38
\]
\[
0.38 \times 100 = 38
\]

Thus, the percentage decrease in Jane's closet space is \( 38\% \).