Question

Consider the following graph, which shows a bookstore’s sales over the course of one day.
A graph titled Book Sales by Genre has genre on the x-axis and Number sold on the y-axis. Romance, 52; horror, 55; Fantasy, 60; Biograph, 57; Humor, 58; Cookbook, 54.
By percent, how much smaller does the sale of horror books appear to be than the sale of fantasy books? How much smaller is it in reality?
a.
Horror sales appear to be only 50% of fantasy sales, but they are actually only about 8% smaller.
b.
Horror sales appear to be only 80% of fantasy sales, but they are actually only about 4% smaller.
c.
Horror sales appear to be only 67% of fantasy sales, but they are actually only about 15% smaller.
d.
Horror sales appear to be only 20% of fantasy sales, but they are actually only about 13% smaller.



Please select the best answer from the choices provided


A
B
C
D

Answer 1

A

Explanation: If the y-axis starts at 50, the bar heights are 55−50 = 5 and 60−50 = 10, so horror appears to be 5/10 = 50% of fantasy. In reality the decrease is (60−55)/60 = 5/60 ≈ 8.3%, about 8%.