Question: Mr. Hooper is looking to buy an SUV, a hatchback, or a minivan. The descriptions of the vehicles he has looked at so far are shown in the table.
SUV Hatchback Minivan Total
New 3 2 4 9
Used 8 7 12 27
Total 11 9 16 36
What fraction of the new vehicles are minivans?
Write your answer as a simplified fraction.
1. **State the problem:** We need to find the fraction of new vehicles that are minivans.
2. **Identify the relevant data:** From the table, the number of new minivans is $4$ and the total number of new vehicles is $9$.
3. **Write the fraction:** The fraction of new vehicles that are minivans is $$\frac{4}{9}$$.
4. **Simplify the fraction:** The fraction $\frac{4}{9}$ is already in simplest form because $4$ and $9$ have no common factors other than $1$.
5. **Final answer:** The fraction of new vehicles that are minivans is $$\frac{4}{9}$$.