Calculate Failed Students: 50% of 48 Eighth Graders in Math Test

To solve this problem, we'll follow these steps:

• Step 1: Identify the percentage of students who passed the test and calculate their number.
• Step 2: Find the number of students who failed by subtracting the number of students who passed from the total number of students.

Now, let's work through each step:
Step 1: We know 50% of the 48 students passed. To calculate this, convert 50% to a decimal by dividing by 100, giving us 0.50.
Multiply by the total number of students: $48 \times 0.50 = 24$
This means 24 students passed the test.

Step 2: To find how many students failed, subtract the number of students who passed from the total number of students:
$48 - 24 = 24$

Therefore, the number of students who failed the test is $24$.