An adult has 206 bones. Of those, approximately 2.9% are found in the inner ear. About how many bones in the human body are found in the inner ear?

1 Answer
May 14, 2016

#6# bones

Explanation:

The two steps to solving this problem are:

#1#. Converting #2.9%# into a fraction.
#2#. Multiplying the fraction form of #2.9%# by the total number of bones in the human body.

Rewriting 2.9% as a Fraction
Since #%# means "out of hundred," put #2.9# over #100#.

#2.9%#

#=2.9/100#

As there cannot be any decimals in a fraction, you must get rid of the decimal. You do this by multiplying the numerator and denominator by #10#.

#=2.9/100(10/10)#

#=29/1000#

Determining the Number of Bones Found in the Inner Ear
Multiply #206# bones by #29/1000#.

#206color(white)(i)"bones"*29/1000#

Since #206# and #1000# can be divided by a common factor of #2#, their values are reduced.

#=206color(red)(-:2)color(white)(i)"bones"*29/(1000color(red)(-:2))#

#=103color(white)(i)"bones"*29/500#

Solve.

#=5.974color(white)(i)"bones"#

#~~color(green)(|bar(ul(color(white)(a/a)color(black)(6color(white)(i)"bones")color(white)(a/a)|)))#