b) What if you wanted to have at least 20 pencils left in your box? How many pencils would you have needed originally?

1 answer

To have at least 20 pencils left in the box, even after giving away 15% of the pencils, you would need to calculate the original number of pencils using the formula:

x - 15% = 20

Rearranging the equation:

x = 20 / (1 - 0.15)

Simplifying:

x = 20 / 0.85

x ≈ 23.53

Therefore, you would have needed originally around 23 or 24 pencils in your box.