Problema Solution

Biologists need to know roughly how many fish live in a certain lake, but they don't want to stress or otherwise harm the fish by draining or dragnetting the lake. Instead, they let down small nets in a few different spots around the lake, catching, tagging, and releasing 96 fish. A week later, after the tagged fish have had a chance to mix thoroughly with the general population, the biologists come back and let down their nets again. They catch 72 fish, of which 4 are tagged. Assuming that the catch is representative, how many fish live in the lake?

Answer provided by our tutors

let x represent the number of fish that live in the lake


x : 96 = 72 : 4

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x = 1,728 fish


1,728 fish live in the lake.