Question

You have a large container of castor oil. You have used 34 quarts of oil.
Fifteen percent of the castor oil remains. How many quarts of castor oil remain?
4
4.5
5
6

Answer 1

Let \( x \) be the total amount of castor oil in quarts. According to the problem, 15% of the castor oil remains, which means that 85% of it has been used. You have used 34 quarts of oil.

We can set up the equation for the used oil:

\[
0.85x = 34
\]

Now, to find \( x \), we can divide both sides by 0.85:

\[
x = \frac{34}{0.85}
\]

Calculating this gives:

\[
x = 40 \text{ quarts}
\]

Now, to find how much oil remains, we calculate 15% of the total oil:

\[
\text{Remaining oil} = 0.15 \times x = 0.15 \times 40 = 6 \text{ quarts}
\]

Thus, the amount of castor oil that remains is \( \boxed{6} \) quarts.