The incoming 7th grade class has a choice of French or Spanish as a language elective. There are 3 times as many Spanish classes as French classes (or 3 to 1). How many students can choose Spanish if there are 850 students? Round to the nearest whole number.

A. 213 students can take Spanish
B. 283 students can take Spanish
C. 425 students can take Spanish
D. 638 students can take Spanish

3 answers

Since there are 3 times as many Spanish classes as French classes, the ratio of Spanish students to French students is also 3 to 1.

Let's set up a proportion to find out how many students can choose Spanish:

Spanish students / French students = 3/1

We know that the French students are x and the Spanish students are 3x (since the ratio is 3 to 1).

So, 3x / x = 3/1

Simplifying the left side of the equation, we get:

3 = 3/1

Multiplying both sides of the equation by x, we get:

3x = 3

Dividing both sides of the equation by 3, we get:

x = 1

Therefore, there is 1 French class and 3 Spanish classes.

If there are 850 students in total, and each class has an equal number of students, there are:

850 / (1+3) = 850 / 4 = 212.5

The nearest whole number of students that can choose Spanish is 213 (approximately half a student cannot choose Spanish).

Therefore, the correct answer is A. 213 students can take Spanish.
you sure
Apologies for the mistake in my previous response. Let's recalculate.

Since there are 3 times as many Spanish classes as French classes, we can set up the equation:

x = number of French classes
3x = number of Spanish classes

The total number of classes is x + 3x = 4x.

We are given that there are 850 students, so the number of students per class is:

850 students / 4x classes = 212.5 students/class

Since we are looking for a whole number of students, we round this calculation to the nearest whole number:

Approximately 213 students per class.

Since each Spanish class has 213 students, and there are 3 Spanish classes, the total number of students who can choose Spanish is:

3 classes * 213 students/class = 639 students

Therefore, the correct answer is D. 638 students can take Spanish.