If 72% of the town's 37,000 voters cast ballots the number of votes cast is:

(\( \frac{72}{100} \)) x 37,000 = \( \frac{2,664,000}{100} \) = 26,640

The mayor got 90% of the votes cast which is:

(\( \frac{90}{100} \)) x 26,640 = \( \frac{2,397,600}{100} \) = 23,976 votes.

To take the square root of a fraction, break the fraction into two separate roots then calculate the square root of the numerator and denominator separately:

\( \sqrt{\frac{9}{25}} \)
\( \frac{\sqrt{9}}{\sqrt{25}} \)
\( \frac{\sqrt{3^2}}{\sqrt{5^2}} \)
\(\frac{3}{5}\)

The distributive property for division helps in solving expressions like \({b + c \over a}\). It specifies that the result of dividing a fraction with multiple terms in the numerator and one term in the denominator can be obtained by dividing each term individually and then totaling the results: \({b + c \over a} = {b \over a} + {c \over a}\). For example, \({a^3 + 6a^2 \over a^2} = {a^3 \over a^2} + {6a^2 \over a^2} = a + 6\).

A factor is a positive integer that divides evenly into a given number. For example, the factors of 8 are 1, 2, 4, and 8.

To subtract these radicals together their radicands must be the same:

3\( \sqrt{80} \) - 9\( \sqrt{5} \)
3\( \sqrt{16 \times 5} \) - 9\( \sqrt{5} \)
3\( \sqrt{4^2 \times 5} \) - 9\( \sqrt{5} \)
(3)(4)\( \sqrt{5} \) - 9\( \sqrt{5} \)
12\( \sqrt{5} \) - 9\( \sqrt{5} \)

Now that the radicands are identical, you can subtract them: