Tutor profile: Shilpa K.

If a student received a score of 80% on their exam that had 25 questions (each out of one mark), how many questions did they answer correctly?

The first step is to convert 80% into a decimal. Do this by moving the decimal two places to the left (80.0 becomes 0.8) Now, multiply the number of exam questions (25) by the percent written as a decimal (0.8) 25 x 0.8 = 20 So, this student correctly answered 20 questions out of a potential 25 questions, and therefore received a mark of 80%

What are some advantages and disadvantages of asexual reproduction?

Asexual reproduction is when a parent is essentially able to create clones (identical copies) of itself as offspring. This process can happen VERY quickly, especially when compared to sexual reproduction. Think about a mouldy sandwich left in you backpack, that mould can grow very quickly! So through asexual reproduction, an organism can reproduce very quickly to create a colony of genetically identical offspring. However, since all of these offspring have the exact same genetic material, this can be a major disadvantage when it comes to surviving a disease or an environmental change. Since they lack genetic diversity, they will all respond the same, say for example, to a disease. None of the offspring will have differences in their DNA that might help them survive the disease, and this is a major disadvantage of asexual reproduction.

How does the structure of the small intestine relate to its function?

The small intestines primary function is to absorb of vitamins and nutrients. The structure of the small intestine specializes in this way by having a number of folds in order to increase the surface area, which leads to an increase in potential sites where absorption can occur. Along with the folding, there are villi (tiny hairlike projections) that extend from the small intestine surface to further increase the surface area for absorption, and even microvilli that extend from these villi to FURTHER increase the potential absorption in the small intestine.