A state has 178 counties and has a sporadic power outage throughout the state. They have reports of 3%, 7%, and 12% power outage percentages coming from three different counties. Which is the best estimate of the percentage of the state that has a power outage?

Question

Responses

37.3%
37.3%

8.1%
8.1%

7.3%
7.3%

22%

Answer 1

To estimate the percentage of the entire state that has a power outage based on reports from three counties, we need to consider the proportions of the counties and the percentages reported.

1. Counties with reports: We need to determine how many counties correspond to the reported percentages. Since it's not specified how many counties each percentage comes from, we will assume that the reports come from one county each.

2. Calculating the contribution:

   • Assume each percentage represents one county.
   • Therefore, we can take an average of the reported percentages.

3. Average calculation: \[ \text{Average percentage} = \frac{3% + 7% + 12%}{3} = \frac{22%}{3} \approx 7.33% \]

Since the options provided include only rounded numbers, the best estimate from the given choices would be:

7.3%

Therefore, the best estimate of the percentage of the state that has a power outage is 7.3%.