To determine the percent of working students prior to the increase, follow these steps:
1. Understand the problem: We know that the percentage of working students increased by 18.9% to reach 49.2%. We need to find out what the percentage was before the increase.
2. Let the percentage prior to the increase be [tex]\( x \)[/tex].
3. According to the problem, the percentage of working students after the increase is the original percentage plus the increase:
[tex]\[ x + 18.9\% = 49.2\% \][/tex]
4. To find [tex]\( x \)[/tex], subtract the increase in percentage from the final percentage:
[tex]\[ x = 49.2\% - 18.9\% \][/tex]
5. Perform the subtraction:
[tex]\[ 49.2 - 18.9 = 30.3 \][/tex]
6. Therefore, the percent prior to the increase was:
[tex]\[ 30.3\% \][/tex]
So, the percent of working students before the increase was 30.3%.
