The number of oranges harvested from Jake's yard decreased by 5% from last year to this year. Jake used the following expression to find the number of oranges harvested this year, P, where C is the number of oranges Jake harvested last year.

Question

c -0.05 =p

Select the correct interpretation for the given equation.
A.
P is 5% of the amount harvested by Jake this year.
B.
P is 95% of the amount harvested by Jake last year.
C.
P is 95% of the amount harvested by Jake this year.
D.
P is 5% of the amount harvested by Jake last year.

Answer 1

The correct interpretation of the equation \( C - 0.05 = P \) is:

B. P is 95% of the amount harvested by Jake last year.

Here’s the reasoning:

• Jake's harvest decreased by 5%, which means he harvested 95% of what he harvested last year.
• The expression should actually reflect this decrease as \( P = C - 0.05C \) or \( P = 0.95C \).
• If we were to manipulate the original equation \( C - 0.05 = P \), we'd realize that the \( 0.05 \) doesn't represent the correct percentage of the total harvest but shows a decrease. The interpretation should center on how much of last year’s total \( C \) is represented in \( P \).

Thus, there may be an error in the expression provided since the better representation for the scenario described would be \( P = 0.95C \), confirming that \( P \) is indeed 95% of the previous year’s harvest.