Ratios are seen in everyday life. They can be used when adding ingredients to make a meal, when deciding how much pocket money children get or when reading a map.
Part of MathsRatio, proportion and rates of change
Using a table can help to answer problems when one or more ratios are incomplete or unknown.
Some boys and girls are divided into teams in the ratio \(3:4\). There are 8 girls in one team. How many boys are there in the team?
There are 8 girls shared into 4 parts. Each part has \(\frac{8}{4} = 2 \:\text{girls}\).
Fill in the table using this information.
Because each part is equal, the rest of the table can now be filled in.
From the table it is clear that the number of boys in the team is \(3 \times 2 = 6\).