Fractions | Racquel Sanderson

Tag Archives: Fractions

September 23, 2024 · 3:11 am

Cats and Dogs

In my town 10% of the dogs think they are cats and 10% of the cats think they are dogs. All the other cats and dogs are perfectly normal. When all the cats and dogs in my town were rounded up and subjected to a rigorous test, 20% of them thought they were cats. What percentage of them really were cats?
Hamilton Olympiad 2003 B4 – The Ultimate Mathematical Challenge

Let $x$ be the number of cats and $y$ be the number of dogs.
Then $0.9x+0.1y$ think they are cats.
But we also know 20% of the total think they are cats.
$0.2(x+y)$
Therefore, $0.9x+0.1y=0.2(x+y)$
$0.9x+0.1y=0.2x+0.2y$
$0.7x=0.1y$
$7x=y$
Percentage of cats is $\frac{x}{x+y}\times100$
Substitute $7x$ for $y$
$\frac{x}{x+7x}\times100=\frac{x}{8x}\times100=\frac{1}{8}\times100=12.5%$
$\therefore 12.5$ % of the animals are cats