Let the no. of boy students be n where n is a positive integer (no. of students should be a positive integer, it cannot be a fraction or a negative no. )
Therefore the no. of girl students = n x (1 + 10%) = 1.1n
Total no. of students =( n + 1.1n) = 2.1n
2.1n is less than 40
n is less than 40/2.1
n is less than 19.0476
n can be 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12,13,14,15,16,17,18,19
But no. of girl students = 1.1n which has to be a whole no. because no. of girls cannot be a fraction. If 1.1n has to be a whole no., n can only be 10
Therefore the no. of girl students = 1.1n = 1.1x10 = 11