Calculate Female Students: Finding 60% of 180 Seventh Graders

Q: Why can't I just calculate 40% of 180 for female students?

Because 40% represents the male students, not female students! If males are 40%, then females must be the remaining 60% of the total.

Q: Do I always need to subtract to find the other group?

Not necessarily! You can either subtract (180 - 72 = 108) or calculate the complementary percentage directly (60% of 180 = 108). Both methods give the same answer.

Percentage Calculations with Complementary Values

There are 180 students in total in the seventh grade.

If male students make up 40% of the student body:
How many female students are there in the seventh grade?

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Step-by-step written solution

Follow each step carefully to understand the complete solution

Understand the problem

There are 180 students in total in the seventh grade.

If male students make up 40% of the student body:
How many female students are there in the seventh grade?

Step-by-step solution

To find the number of female students in the seventh grade, we first identify the number of male students and then subtract that from the total number of students.

Step 1: Calculate the number of male students.
Percentage of male students = 40% = 0.40
Total number of students = 180
Number of male students = 180 × 0.40
Number of male students = $72$

Step 2: Calculate the number of female students.
Total number of students = 180
Number of female students = Total number of students - Number of male students
Number of female students = 180 - 72
Number of female students = $108$

Final Answer

$108$

Key Points to Remember

Essential concepts to master this topic

Rule: If males are 40%, then females are 60% of total
Technique: Calculate 60% of 180: 180 × 0.60 = 108
Check: Males (72) + Females (108) = 180 total students ✓

Common Mistakes

Avoid these frequent errors

Calculating 40% instead of 60% for female students
Don't calculate 180 × 0.40 = 72 females! This gives you the number of male students instead. Always remember that if males are 40%, then females must be 100% - 40% = 60% of the total.

Practice Quiz

Test your knowledge with interactive questions

Calculate 30 over 100 as a percentage:

FAQ

Everything you need to know about this question

Why can't I just calculate 40% of 180 for female students?

Because 40% represents the male students, not female students! If males are 40%, then females must be the remaining 60% of the total.

Do I always need to subtract to find the other group?

Not necessarily! You can either subtract (180 - 72 = 108) or calculate the complementary percentage directly (60% of 180 = 108). Both methods give the same answer.

How do I know what percentage the females represent?

Since all students are either male or female, the percentages must add up to 100%. So: Female % = 100% - Male % = 100% - 40% = 60%

What if the percentages don't add up to 100%?

Then there might be an error in the problem or you're missing a third group. In this case, male + female should always equal 100% of the student body.

Is there a faster way to solve this?

Yes! Once you know males are 40%, you can immediately calculate females as 60% of 180 without finding the male count first: $180 \times 0.60 = 108$

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