the easiest way to do do this is to first find out how much % 500 is of 700
first, we can just set it up as a simplified fraction
[tex] \frac{7}{5} [/tex]
which is equal to..
[tex]1.4[/tex]
then we divide 100 by this number
[tex]100 \div 1.4 = 71.4285...[/tex]
*now to check*
multiply the quotient by .01 to get .7142...
then multiply that by 700
we should get a product of 500, confirming our answer
now that we're sure, subtract 71 from 100 to find the percentage decrease
[tex]amswer = 29\%[/tex]