text: an entomologist noted that in the past 5 years in the local forest preserve, the population of bees decreased? by 35%. in her study, she recorded that the # of active hives 5 years ago was 35. if the # of active hives decreased at the same rate as the bee population, how many hives are there today? 35% of 35 active hives is 35 x 0.35 = 12.25 hives. so if the number of active hives have decreased by 12.25 hives, then the remaining number of active hives is 35 - 12.25 = 22.75 hives.   it may not be possible to have a partial number of hives, in which case we might say that most likely 23 hives remain (this corresponds to a 34.3% drop in bee population as opposed to 37.1% drop had the number of hives fallen to 22).