Someone and I have gotten into a dispute over the wording of a word problem. Here is the problem:

Jane currently has a C+ (77%) in her math class. If she does a make-up test her teacher is willing to increase her final grade by 10%. What will Jane's final grade be if she does the test?

Now, before I tell you what I think the answer is and what my friend thinks the answer is, I want your guys' opinions on this.

What is the correct equation to solve this problem?

Impossible to tell, as her score on the makeup test cannot be assumed.

It could be 87% or 84.7%.

Its wording is sucky.

no, there is an elephant in the way

I'm agreeing with Grif.

Edit: OIC, 10% of 77%.

Soyeah, crappy wording plus what Grif said makes this impossible to answer.

10 percent of 77.

Can be anything. Assuming the makeup test is being factored into the total grade percentage, the test could be worth 10 points or 10000 points, skewing the percentage by any possible amount.

If the test isn't factored into the score, then 87%.

What? A female is taking the test, and all females fail at anything academic. So the answer is obviously 67%.

Unless the test was worth more than the rest of the total grades combines, in which case it would go down 50% and then up 10%.

Unless the test is worth more points than the cumulative total of all points in the class so far, thus by failing she could get a negative percentile.

Of course, that's assuming the test is even worth a rational number of points. Or a realistic one. Why not increase it by six dozen orders of magnitude?

The test is worth 10% of her grade obviously. If she fails it SHE GETS A 67. It's a she so obviously the answer is 67%.

The test can increase her grade by 10 percent.

It does not mention how much it could lower it by.

The teacher never said that it mattered how well she did, so it goes up by 10% (arbitrary or of 77%, I don't know) automatically, and then may or may not fall or rise according to how she does.

CherryT, just write all the posts in this thread as your work for the problem then write DNE.

Well, it's technically not my problem. It's my sister's. Also, the "test" is better described as a Boolean action. If you do it, you get 10% without the "test" being considered as part of the grade. If you don't, it's not regarded as part of the answer and your final grade is your final grade.
I guess DRL is not a reputable source of answers, though.

But Grif brings up the point I was trying to get to. I was in a dispute about how the "correct" way to do this problem is. The final result ended up being 87% for the "problem." Really, this is a real life situation with a teacher who I do not particularly like. Basically, if my sister does an assignment which is not graded, she gets her "final grade increased by 10%."

What I was really wondering was that if you can create the situation in which it is 87% from that problem. The person I was arguing with said it is impossible to create that assumption and said that the only possible answer is 84.5%. Apparently, he is wrong.
Here's what I was thinking:
x (final grade) + 10% = y (final final grade). Is this not reasonable to assume from my statement?

Here's my arguer's equation:
x (final grade) + 10%*x = y (final final grade)
I don't think this isn't a reasonable assumption. I'm not trying to say that this is wrong, but that my statement can be derived from the original "problem."

Is this true DRL?

If he said he'd increase her grade by 10% if she took it, then her grade should be an 87% as long as she takes it.