The January 13, 2002 issue of the New York Times reported that there were 547,867 foreign students enrolled at US colleges and universities in 2000-01 representing a 6.4% increase from the previous year. How many foreign students were studying in US colleges and universities during 1999-2000?

512,804

Explanation:

We know that in 2000-2001, there were 547,867 students enrolled. We also know that this was a 6.4% increase from the previous year. To figure out how many students were enrolled in the year before, we need to first convert 6.4% to a decimal ...

6.4% - --> 0.064

Now we simply multiply 547,867 by 0.064

(547,867) x (0.064) = 35,063

Our next step is to subtract 35,063 from 547,867 to figure out the students enrolled from 1999-2000 ...

547,867 - 35,063 = 512,804

Our answer is 512,804.