A bus has left side with 15 seats. The right side has 3 fewer seats due to a rear exit. Each seat holds 3 people, and there is a last seat that can sit 7 people. How many people can be seated in total?

A bus has left side with 15 seats. The right side has 3 fewer seats due to a rear exit. Each seat holds 3 people, and there is a last seat that can sit 7 people. How many people can be seated in total?

• A. 52
• B. 49
• C. 95
• D. 88

Answer: (D)

Understanding seating capacity: add up how many seats there are and how many people each seat can hold, then account for any special seats with different capacity. The left side has 15 seats, the right side has 3 fewer, so 12 seats there. That’s 15 + 12 = 27 standard seats. With each standard seat holding 3 people, the regular seating capacity is 27 × 3 = 81. There’s an extra last seat that can hold 7 people, so add 7 to get 81 + 7 = 88. The bus can seat 88 people in total.

Understanding seating capacity: add up how many seats there are and how many people each seat can hold, then account for any special seats with different capacity. The left side has 15 seats, the right side has 3 fewer, so 12 seats there. That’s 15 + 12 = 27 standard seats. With each standard seat holding 3 people, the regular seating capacity is 27 × 3 = 81. There’s an extra last seat that can hold 7 people, so add 7 to get 81 + 7 = 88. The bus can seat 88 people in total.