Question

the sixth graders at palm valley school just finished a chemistry unit in science. because it was a new unit, the teacher asked the students to rate it on a scale from 1 to 10 based on how much they felt they learned. this table shows the average ratings from four science classes.

class period	average rating
2nd period	8.8
3rd period	8.6
4th period	8.3

how many of the classes rated the chemistry unit higher than an 8\frac{1}{2}?

Explanation:

Step1: Convert the fraction

Convert $8\frac{1}{2}$ to decimal. $8\frac{1}{2}=8 + \frac{1}{2}=8+0.5 = 8.5$.

Step2: Compare ratings

Compare each class - period's average rating with 8.5.
1st Period: 8.4 < 8.5.
2nd Period: 8.8 > 8.5.
3rd Period: 8.6 > 8.5.
4th Period: 8.3 < 8.5.

Step3: Count classes

Count the number of classes with ratings higher than 8.5. There are 2 classes (2nd Period and 3rd Period).

Answer:

2