You and a friend read in the newspaper that 7 percent of all Americans eat at McDonald’s each day. Your friend says, “That’s impossible!”

You know that there are approximately 250 million Americans and approximately 9,000 McDonald’s restaurants in the U.S. Suppose you think the 7 percent claim is reasonable.

Write a paragraph arguing that the claim could be true. Show the mathematical reasoning you might use to support the claim as reasonable.

(Sampler item from the Connecticut Common Core of Learning Assessment Project, sponsored by the National Science Foundation.)