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Illustrative Math
Grade 7
Let’s use equations to represent increases and decreases.
Illustrative Math Unit 7.4, Lesson 8 (printable worksheets)
The following diagram shows how to solve percent increase and decrease problems by writing an equation to represent the situation and solving it

How do you get from one number to the next using multiplication or division?
Match an equation to each of these situations. Be prepared to share your reasoning.
An astronaut was exploring the moon of a distant planet, and found some glowing goo at the bottom of a very deep crater. She brought a 10-gram sample of the goo to her laboratory. She found that when the goo was exposed to light, the total amount of goo increased by 100% every hour.
After 1 hour: 2 · 10 = 20
After 2 hours: 2 · 2 · 10 = 40
After 3 hours: 2 · 2 · 2 · 10 = 80
After n hours: 2n · 10
Shrank by 75% means that the goo will be 25% or 1/4 of its size after every hour.
If the goo is to shrink to 1/2 of its size every hour, it will take n hours to return back to its original size.
Since the goo shrank to 1/4 of its size every hour, it would take 1/2 n hours to return to its original size.
The Open Up Resources math curriculum is free to download from the Open Up Resources website and is also available from Illustrative Mathematics.
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