Math word problem?

In the US, 1 in 7 people is left handed. At my school, there are 74 left handed students. How many more right handed students are there than left handed students at my school?


a) 518


b) 370


c) 444


d) 592





I tried this online at math.about.com, I thought the answer was 444 but they say it is 370. How can that be possible?

Math word problem?
anyway .. its a) 518





let the total ppl b x





1/7 * x = 74





x = 74 * 7


= 518





right handed people = 518 - 74 = 444





now the question says how many MORE right handed students are therre than the left handed.





which means that they want to know the difference in the number of people who are left handed and right handed.





= 444 - 74


= 370
Reply:haha .. yes, n the trick is to read the words really really carefully ! ;) Report It

Reply:444 is the number of right handed students at the school (6 times 74). But the problem asked about how many more right handers there were than left handers. You have to deduct the 74 left handers to get 370 more right handers than left handers.
Reply:right handed at school -- lefthanded at school


= 74*(7 -- 1) -- 74


= 444 -- 74


= 370 . answer is (b)
Reply:The answer is 444. I agree with you. It's because for every one left-handed person, there are seven right-handed people. So you multiply the number of left-handed people by seven to get the number of right handed people. So if you multiply 74 by 7, you get the answer of 518.


But then when you go back to the problem, you will see that the question is not how many right handed students are there, but instead, how much more right handed students are there than left handed, so you subtract the number of right handed from the number of left-handed. So it is 518-74=444... your answer is right... don't worryü
Reply:yep its 518
Reply:1/8 = 74/x





x = 592 (total number of students)





numberof right handed students = 592 - 74 = 518


difference of right and left handed students = 518 -74 = 444





we got the same answer!
Reply:I agree with Sahil's working out. Next person based it on 1 in 8 instead.