How many people in total came to the museum that day?

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Question from simon:

1354 people attended exhibition A and 1427 people attended exhibition B. 79% of people attended both exhibitions. How many people in total came to the museum that day?

Hi Simon,

I see a picture.

diagram

There are the 1354 people attended exhibition A (inside the circle with an orange perimeter) and the 1427 people attended exhibition B (inside the circle with an brown perimeter). There are some people who attended both, the people in the overlap. I don't know this number so I called it x.

You say "79% of people attended both exhibitions" and that gives me an equation

x = 79% of the total number of people.

If I add 1354 and 1427 I get more than the total number of people since I have counted the x people in the overlap twice. Hence the total number of people is 1354 + 1427 - x.

Solve for x.

Penny

Math Central is supported by the University of Regina and The Pacific Institute for the Mathematical Sciences.