A monthly budget is split as housing 35%, food 25%, clothing 15%, miscellaneous 15%, utilities 10%. If the monthly income is 1,500 dollars, how much should be set aside for food?

Step-by-step solution

1. 1

   Pick out the one slice you need. The chart lists five categories, but only the food share matters here:

   $\text{food share}=25\%$

   The other four percentages are there to be ignored — though they are worth a glance as a check: $35+25+15+15+10=100$, so the chart is complete and consistent.

2. 2

   Convert the percentage to a decimal. Per cent means per hundred, so divide by $100$:

   $25\%=\frac{25}{100}=0.25$

3. 3

   Multiply the decimal by the whole amount. 'Of' means multiply:

   $0.25\times 1500=375$

4. 4

   Sanity-check with a mental shortcut. $25\\%$ is one quarter, and a quarter of $1{,}500$ is $1500\\div 4=375$ $\\checkmark$. The two methods agree.

5. 5

   Rule out the distractor answers. $\\$525$is$35\%$(housing, not food).$\$37.50$ is what you get by using $2.5\\%$ — a decimal-point slip. $\\$166$is roughly$1500\div 9$ and corresponds to nothing in the chart. The correct amount is

   $\$375$