The solution to this problem must be based on the given fact that the final reaction mixture, excluding only the water formed by the reaction, is 42% NO(g) by mass. To set up the preliminary arrow diagram, 42.0 grams of ammonia and 60.0 grams of oxygen are changed to moles by conventional unit conversion calculations. The preliminary arrow diagram then looks like

ANY question about the reaction should be answerable if all positions in the arrow diagram can be specified with numbers. This requires the calculation of X_actual as a number. In all that follows, the value of "X" with no subscript should be taken to be "X_act" In this case, the value of "X" is calculated from the fact that the final mixture of gases is 42 % NO(g) by mass. As an equation

Solving this equation gives X = 0.2591. There is no unit because this value applies to the entire reaction.

The value of X should be used to answer the question in the most direct way possible. The percent yield of a reaction can be calculated as the ratio of X_act to X₁₀₀ multiplied by 100:

The SMALLER of the calculated values of X₁₀₀ is the real value of X₁₀₀

Then, with both X_act and X₁₀₀ being known, the percent yield of the reaction is calculated:

Once the percent can be calculated, the problem has been solved. There is no need in this problem to complete the arrow diagram with numbers. That would be needed in some problems though, so using the value of X the arrow diagram could be completed as follows: