SAT Question a0b165f8: Percentages answer and explanation with Desmos solution

Choice A is correct. It's given that a scientist studying the life cycle of dragonflies counted the number of dragonflies in a certain habitat each day for $46$ days. It's also given that on February $15$, there were $99$ dragonflies in the habitat and that the percent increase in the number of dragonflies in the habitat from January $1$ to February $15$ was $12.50\%$. This can be represented by the equation

$99=\left(1+\frac{12.50}{100}\right)x$, where $x$ represents the number of dragonflies in the habitat on January $1$. This equation can be rewritten as $99=1.125x$. Dividing both sides of this equation by $1.125$ yields $88=x$. Therefore, there were $88$ dragonflies in the habitat on January $1$.