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Problem-Solving and Data Analysis Difficulty: Hard

After 20% of the original number of marbles in a group were removed from the group, 360 marbles remained in the group. How many marbles were removed from the group?

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Explanation

Choice B is correct. It's given that 20% of the original number of marbles were removed from the group. Let x represent the original number of marbles in the group. It follows that 20100x, or 0.20x, marbles were removed from the group. Therefore, x-0.20x marbles remained in the group. It's also given that 360 marbles remained in the group. Thus, x-0.20x=360, or 0.80x=360. Dividing both sides of this equation by 0.80 yields x = 450 . Substituting 450 for x in the expression 0.20x yields 0.20(450), or 90 . Therefore, 90 marbles were removed from the group.

Choice A is incorrect. This is 20% of the remaining number of marbles.

Choice C is incorrect. This is the original number of marbles, not the number of marbles that were removed.

Choice D is incorrect and may result from conceptual or calculation errors.