The students at Newton High School have been planting trees as part of an ongoing service project. This month, they averaged $6$ trees per participant. That is $25\%$ fewer trees than their average the last time they did it. What was their average last time? $\newline$ ____ trees

Full solution

Q. The students at Newton High School have been planting trees as part of an ongoing service project. This month, they averaged

6

trees per participant. That is

25\%

fewer trees than their average the last time they did it. What was their average last time?

\newline

____ trees

Calculate $25\%$ of $x$ : Let $x$ be the previous average. $\newline$ Calculate $25\%$ of $x$ . $\newline$ Expression for current average: $x - 25\%(x)$ $\newline$ = $x - 0.25x$
Set up equation for current average: We know: Current average is $6$ Set up an equation to find $x$ , the previous average. Equation for current average is $6 = x - 0.25x$ .
Solve for x: Solve for x. $\newline$ $x - 0.25x = 6$ $\newline$ $0.75x = 6$ $\newline$ $x = \frac{6}{0.75}$ $\newline$ $x = 8$