Suppose the 20 percent of Americans in 1790 who were not free White people, but were either enslaved or other free people, had a fair share of delegates to the Constitutional Convention. If they had, how many (not a percentage) of the 55 delegates would have been either enslaved or other free people?
Answer (2)
Calculate the percentage: Multiply the total number of delegates (55) by the percentage of non-free White people (20% or 0.20).
Perform the calculation: 0.20 × 55 = 11
Determine the number of delegates: The result of the calculation is the number of delegates representing the non-free White population.
State the final answer: The number of delegates is \boxed{11}.
Explanation
Understanding the Problem We are given that 20% of Americans in 1790 were not free White people and we want to find out how many delegates out of 55 would represent this group if they had a fair share. This is a straightforward percentage problem.
Setting up the Calculation To find the number of delegates, we need to calculate 20% of 55. This can be done by multiplying 0.20 by 55.
Calculating the Number of Delegates Performing the calculation: 0.20 × 55 = 11
Final Answer Therefore, if the 20% of Americans who were not free White people had a fair share, they would have been represented by 11 delegates.
Examples
Imagine you are organizing a school event and want to ensure representation from each grade. If 20% of the students are in the 6th grade, and you have a committee of 55 students, you would allocate 11 spots to 6th graders to ensure fair representation. This principle applies to various scenarios where proportional representation is important, such as in government, committees, or any group aiming for balanced representation.
If 20% of Americans in 1790 who were not free White people had been represented at the Constitutional Convention, they would have had 11 delegates out of the 55. This is calculated by multiplying 20% by the total number of delegates. Thus, the number of delegates representing this group would be 11.
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