Quantitative Literacy Practice Exam

How many votes did the opponent receive if the elected councilwoman received 2,956 votes and had 4 votes for every opponent's vote?

1. 500

2. 739

3. 587

4. 1,000

The correct answer is: 739

To find out how many votes the opponent received, we can set up a simple equation based on the information provided. The elected councilwoman received 2,956 votes and it is stated that she had four times as many votes as her opponent. Let’s denote the number of votes the opponent received as \( x \). According to the information given, we have the relationship: \[ 2,956 = 4x \] To find \( x \), we need to isolate it by dividing both sides of the equation by 4: \[ x = \frac{2,956}{4} \] Calculating this gives: \[ x = 739 \] Therefore, the opponent received 739 votes. This result aligns perfectly with the context of the problem, where the relationship between the votes of the councilwoman and her opponent is clearly established. The calculation confirms that the elected official's vote count is indeed four times that of her opponent, leading us to conclude that the correct answer is 739.