Math Problem of the Week - Middle School - June 13, 2021 to June 19, 2021

Middle School: 

Question: There are 2,700 residents of Casey, Illinois, home of the world's largest mailbox. The mailbox is so big that a group of people can stand inside it. If there are 135 people standing inside the mailbox, what percentage of the population of Casey is in the mailbox? 

Answer: 5%

Solution: One way to solve this problem is to reason that a percentage is out of 100, and there are 27 hundreds in 2,700. So, to find the percentage, we want to know what number goes into 135, 27 times: 135 ÷ 27 = 5. So, there are 5 residents for each hundred, meaning there are 5% of the residents in the mailbox.