SOLUTION: In a ship of 30 people, the sailors are 2/3 of the soldiers. find the number of the soldiers.

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Question 1103517: In a ship of 30 people, the sailors are 2/3 of the soldiers. find the number of the soldiers.
Found 2 solutions by josgarithmetic, greenestamps:
Answer by josgarithmetic(39623) About Me  (Show Source):
You can put this solution on YOUR website!
x, sailors
y, soldiers
system%28x%2By=30%2Cx=%282%2F3%29y%29

Answer by greenestamps(13203) About Me  (Show Source):
You can put this solution on YOUR website!
When the information for a problem like this is given as a fraction, I find it much easier to set up the problem using ratios.

In this problem, where the information is that the number of sailors is 2/3 the number of soldiers, I see that as saying the ratio is 2:3. So
let 3x = # of soldiers
then 2x = # of sailors

Then
3x%2B2x=30
5x=30
x=6

The number of soldiers is 3x=18; the number of sailors is 2x=12.