How-to books make up 0.3 of the books in the school library. Of these, 0.2 deal with carpentry and 0.4 deal with electronics. 0.3 x 0.4 = 0.12. Interpret what the answer 0.12 represents in this equation above.

Question

A: the portion of the books in the library that are how-to books on electronics.
B: the portion of books in the library that are how-to books on carpentry.
C: the portion of books in the library that are how-to books.
D: the portion of how-to books that are either carpentry or electronics.

Answer 1

The equation you provided, \(0.3 \times 0.4 = 0.12\), represents the portion of how-to books that specifically deal with electronics within the entire library.

Here's the breakdown:

• \(0.3\) represents the portion of all books in the library that are how-to books.
• \(0.4\) represents the portion of the how-to books that deal with electronics.

Thus, when you multiply these two values, you get \(0.12\), which represents the portion of the total books in the library that are how-to books on electronics.

So, the correct answer is:

A: the portion of the books in the library that are how-to books on electronics.