PSAT Math Multiple-Choice Question 402: Answer and Explanation

Question: 402

For which season did pineapples make up the largest percentage of the total pieces of fruit sold?

• A. Winter
• B. Spring
• C. Summer
• D. Fall

Correct Answer: B

Explanation:

B

Difficulty: Medium

Getting to the Answer: You are asked about the percentage of sales of pineapples for each season. Thus, you will want to refer to the Pineapples row of the table. Use estimation strategies to determine percentages for each season:

Winter: 22 of 150 pieces of fruit sold in the winter were pineapples. Recognize that , so slightly less than (or ~17%) of the fruit sold in the winter were pineapples.

Spring: 41 of 200 pieces of fruit sold in the spring were pineapples. You should recognize that , so the percentage of pieces of fruit sold that were pineapples is slightly above 20% in the spring.

Summer: 46 of 230 pieces of fruit sold in the summer were pineapples. The fraction actually reduces to exactly , so exactly 20% of the pieces of fruit sold in the summer were pineapples.

Fall: Only 11 of 170 pieces of fruit sold in the fall were pineapples. This ratio is very similar to , which is going to be much smaller than the percentages in the other three seasons.

Thus, (B) is the correct answer.