I totally agree. The answer provided by ilcreatore was made having in mind the official solution provided by the author.

However, for me the answer C is elaborated in such way to make the question difficult.

Here we do have a simple % change. The universal rule for %change says that you make the following fraction

Starting value - the decreasing value / starting value = 7.4 %

Tha answer should be A.

Regards

I don't get it, Carcass.



IlCreatore did exactly that and got result C, not A.

Sorry, I made a dull mistake.

In the year before the stolen car was 12% of a certain number X. 12% less is 88

For the other year is 19.4%. So the decrease is 80.6.

\(\frac{88-80.6}{88}=0.084 *100 = 8.4\)

Which is C

Regards

why are we assuming base year as 1994 and not as 1997?

I used it as a starting point. Our X

Hi Carcass
Is the question worded correctly or am I interpreting this incorrectly?
The title says that the graph shows % change in motor vehicle theft in the US between 94-98. Now it does not specify if the change is year on year (ie 95 had 4.3% less thefts than 94 and 96 had 9.4% less thefts han 95) or if its a comparison between thefts in 94 and to the other years (ie 97 indicates a 12% reduction in thefts between 94 and 98). I assumed the graph to be the former. Can you explain why you chose the latter in your explanation?

Hi GreenlightTestPrep could you please share your thoughts on this?
Thank You!

Overall but we need the follwoing

By what percent did the number of vehicles stolen decrease from 1997 to 1998?

I totally agree with you. The wording of this question is ambiguous (for the same reasons you noted).

Assuming we have stolen cars at the start of graph 100, the number of stolen cars in 1997 and 1998 are respectively (0.12x 100) 88 and (19.4 x 100) 80.6. Then, the percent decrease is computed as (new %- original%)/ original %

(80.6-88)/88*100 = -8.4%. Answer C