The total snowfall in Buffalo, NY one year was 120 inches. If the total snowfall the following year was 90 inches, what was the percent change? Show and explain your solution.

Question

anonymous · Answer

Here's the formula for percent change
((y2 - y1) / y1)*100

y2 is the second year
yi is the first year
25% increase

ciarán95 · Answer

By the percentage change, we are looking at the percentage decrease in the snowfall level from one year to another.

One way of doing this is to let 120 inches = 100% for the snowfall in Buffalo.

The next year there was 90 inches, which, as a percentage of 120 inches is (90/120 x 100), or 75% of the snowfall of the year before. This means that whatever fell in Buffalo the year before, now only 75% of this will have fallen the year after. So, if you subtract the percentages for the the two years, you can work out the percent change or decrease.