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Question 384292: how do you do ratio and proportion?
Answer by mtmorro(23)   (Show Source):
You can put this solution on YOUR website! A ratio is a relationship with respect to relative size between two quantities of the same kind. A pure number to a pure number; an amount of money to an amount of money; a number of people to a number of people.
Ratio
A ratio is a comparison of two numbers. We generally separate the two numbers in the ratio with a colon (:). Suppose we want to write the ratio of 8 and 12.
We can write this as 8:12 or as a fraction 8/12, and we say the ratio is eight to twelve.
15 people, for example, are more than 5 people. We can express that by saying how much more, that is, 10 more, or by saying how many times more: Three times more. When we say that 15 people are three times more than 5 people, that is called their ratio.
Proportion
A proportion is an equation with a ratio on each side. It is a statement that two ratios are equal.
3/4 = 6/8 is an example of a proportion.
When one of the four numbers in a proportion is unknown, cross products may be used to find the unknown number. This is called solving the proportion. Question marks or letters are frequently used in place of the unknown number.
Example:
Solve for n: 1/2 = n/4.
Using cross products we see that 2 × n = 1 × 4 =4, so 2 × n = 4. Dividing both sides by 2, n = 4 ÷ 2 so that n = 2.
To do this you calculate.
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