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2 | Industrial Mathematics
UNIT 2: RATIO AND PROPORTION
2.0 Intended Learning Outcomes
a. Define ratio and proportion;
b. Reduce the ratios to lowest terms;
c. Solve ratio and proportion problems with the use of calculator; and
d. Solve worded problems involving the application of ratio and proportion
2.1 Introduction
Ratio and Proportion are explained majorly based on what we have learned in the
previous unit, fractions. When a fraction is represented in the form of a:b, then it is a
ratio whereas a proportion states that two ratios are equal. Here, a and b are any two
integers. The ratio and proportion are the two important concepts, and it is the
foundation to understand the various concepts in mathematics as well as in science.
In our daily life activities, we use the concept of ratio and proportion such as in
business while dealing with money or while cooking any dish, etc. Sometimes, we get
confused with the concept of ratio and proportion. So in this unit, we will get a clear
vision of these two concepts with more solved examples and problems.
2.2 Topics/Discussion (with Assessment/Activities)
Ratio
A ratio compares values. It says how much of one thing there is compared to another
thing.
There are 3 blue squares to 1 yellow square
Ratios can be shown in different ways:
Use the ":" to separate the values: 3:1
Or we can use the word "to": 3 to 1
3
Or we can use the word "to":
1
A ratio can be scaled up:
Here the ratio is also 3 blue squares to 1 yellow
square, even though there are more squares.
Using Ratios
The trick with ratios is to always multiply or divide the numbers by the same value.
Example 1: But even 8:10 is same with
4 : 5 is 2:
Example the same as 4×2 for
A Recipe : 5×2 = 8 : Try4:5, 1
we always use the lowest
It Yourself
ratio (simplified), and that is
10
pancakes good for 2 people The
4:5 best mix for
uses 3 cups of flour and 2 cups making a Milk Tea
of milk. good for 3 people
So the ratio of flour to milk is 3 : 2 uses 1 tablespoon of
.
To make pancakes for an 8 of people we sugar, ½ cup of milk
and 4 cups of
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"Part-to-Part" and "Part-to-Whole" Ratios
The examples so far have been "part-to-part" (comparing one part to another part).
But a ratio can also show a part compared to the whole lot which is termed to be
fraction.
Example 3: There are 5 pups, 2 are boys, and 3 are girls
Part-to-Part: Part-to-Whole:
The ratio of boys to girls is 2:3 or 2/3 The ratio of boys to all pups
is 2:5 or 2/5
The ratio of girls to boys is 3:2 or 3/2 The ratio of girls to all pups
is 3:5 or 3/5
Try It Yourself 2
What is the ratio of oranges to strawberries?
What is the ratio of strawberries to oranges?
What is the ratio of oranges to total fruit?
What is the ratio of strawberries to total fruit?
Scaling
We can use ratios to scale drawings up or down (by multiplying or dividing).
The height to width ratio of the Indian Flag is 2:3
So for every 2 (inches, meters, whatever) of height there
should be 3 of width.
If we made the flag 20 inches high, it should be 30 inches
wide.
If we made the flag 40 cm high, it should be 60 cm wide
(which is still in the ratio 2:3)
Example 4: To draw a horse at
1/10th normal size, multiply all sizes
by 1/10th
This horse in real life is 1500 mm high
and 2000 mm long, so the ratio of
its height to length is
1500 : 2000
What is that ratio when we draw it at
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We can make any reduction/enlargement we want that way.
Try It Yourself 3
Jenny's room has a length of 16 ft. In the map, her room is 4 in long. The scale
used in the map is 1 in = ? ft.
Allie measured her foot and it was 21cm long, and Big Foot?
then she measured her Mother's foot, and it was
24cm long.
But then she thought
I must have big to measure heights,
feet, my foot is and found she is
nearly as long 133cm tall, and her
as my Mom’s! Mom is 152cm tall.
In a table this is:
Allie Mom The "foot-to-height" ratio in fraction
Length of 21 cm 24 cm style is:
Foot:
Allie: 21 Mom: 24
Height: 133 cm 152 cm 133 152
So the ratio for Allie is 21 : 133
By dividing both values by 7 we get 21/7 : 133/7 = 3 : 19
It is still the same ratio, right? Because we divided both
numbers by the same amount. And the ratio for Mom Oh! the Ratios
is 24 : 152 are the same. So
my foot is only
By dividing both values by 8 we get 24/8 : 152/8 = 3 : 19 as big as it
should be for my
height, and is
This time we divided by 8, but that ratio stays the same, too. not really too
3 3
The simplified "foot-to-height" ratios are now: Allie: Mom:
19 19
Proportion
Proportion says that two ratios (or fractions) are equal.
Example 5: Example 6: Rope
A rope's length and weight are in
proportion.
When 20m of rope
So 1-out-of-3 is equal to 2-out-of-6 weighs 1kg, then:
The ratios are the same, so they are in 40m of that rope weighs 2kg
200m of that rope
proportion.
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From the word proportion, which means
they are the same, 1/3 and 2/6 are the
same, which what we have learned in
previous unit fraction
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Try It Yourself
John weighs 56.7 kilograms. If he is going to reduce his weight in the ratio 7 : 6,
find his new weight.
Sizes
When shapes are "in proportion" their relative sizes are
the same.
Here we see that the ratios of head length to body length
are the same in both drawings.
So they are proportional.
Making the head too long or short would look bad!
Same with International paper sizes (A3, A4, A5,
etc) all have the same proportions:
So any artwork or document can be resized fit
on any sheet. Very neat.
Working with Proportions. NOW, how do we use
this?
Example 7: You want to draw the dog's head ...
how long should it be? (Use the size proportion
above)
Let us write the proportion with the help of the
10/20 ratio from above:
? 10
=
42 20
Now we solve it using a special method:
Multiply across the known corners,
then divide by the third number
And we get this:
? = (42 × 10) / 20
= 420 / 20
= 21
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So you should draw the head 21
long.
5
Try It Yourself
My Dalmatian and Pomeranian heights are 2.5 feet and ¾ foot respectively. I
already made a caricature for my Dalmatian having a height of 2 inches. What
will be the height of caricature of my Pomeranian using the same scale I did with
my first caricature?
Using Proportions to Solve Percents
A percent is actually a ratio! Saying "25%" is actually saying "25 per 100":
10
25 %=
20
We can use proportions to solve questions involving percents. The trick is to put what
we know into this form:
Part Percent
=
Whole 100
Example 8: what is 25% of 160?
The percent is 25, the whole is 160, and we want to find the "part":
Part 25
=
160 100
Multiply across the known corners, then divide by the third number:
Part = (160 × 25) / 100
= 4000 / 100
= 40
Answer: 25% of 160 is 40.
Note: we could have also solved this by doing the divide first, like this:
Part = 160 × (25 / 100)
= 160 × 0.25
= 40
Either method works fine.
We can also find Percent
Example 9: what is $12 as a percent of $80 ?
Fill in what we know:
$ 12 Percent
=
$ 80 100
Multiply across the known corners, then divide by the third number.
This time the known corners are top left and bottom right:
Percent = ($12 × 100) / $80
= 1200 / 80
= 15%
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Or find the Whole:
Example 10: The sale price of a phone was $150, which was only 80% of normal
price. What was the normal price?
Fill in what we know:
$ 150 80
=
Whole 100
Multiply across the known corners, then divide by the third number:
Whole = ($150 × 100) / 80
= 15000 / 80
= 187.50
Answer: the phone's normal price was $187.50
6
Try It Yourself
In an exam Ashley secured 332 marks. If she secured 83 % marks, find the
maximum marks.
Using Proportions to Solve Figures
We can use proportions to solve similar figures just like triangles.
Example 11: How tall is the Tree?
Sam tried using a ladder, tape measure, ropes and
various other things, but still couldn't work out how
tall the tree was.
But then Sam has a clever idea ... Similar
Sam measures a stick and its shadow (in meters), and also the shadow of the
triangles!
tree, and this is what he gets:
Now Sam makes a sketch of the triangles, and writes down
the "Height to Length" ratio for both triangles:
Height : h 2.4 m
=
Shadow Length : 2.9 m 1.3 m
Multiply across the known corners, then divide by the
third number: Answer: the tree is 5.4 m tall.
h = (2.9 × 2.4) / 1.3 And he didn't even need a ladder!
= 6.96 / 1.3
= 5.4 m (to nearest 0.1)
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The "Height" could have been at the bottom, so long as it was on the bottom for BOTH
ratios, like this:
Let us try the ratio of "Shadow Length to Height":
Shadow Length : 2.9 m 1.3 m
=
Height : h 2.4 m
Multiply across the known corners, then divide by the
third number:
h = (2.9 × 2.4) / 1.3
= 6.96 / 1.3
= 5.4 m (to nearest 0.1)
It is the same calculation as before.
A "Concrete" Example
Ratios can have more than two numbers!
For example concrete is made by mixing cement, sand, stones and water.
A typical mix of cement, sand and stones is written as
a ratio, such as 1:2:6.
We can multiply all values by the same amount and
still have the same ratio.
10:20:60 is the same as 1:2:6
So when we use 10 buckets of cement, we should use
20 of sand and 60 of stones.
So when we use 10 buckets of cement, we should use 20 of sand and 60 of stones.
Example 12: you have just put 12 buckets of stones into a mixer, how much
cement and how much sand should you add to make a 1:2:6 mix?
Let us lay it out in a table to make it clearer:
Cement Sand Stones
Ratio Needed: 1 2 6
You Have: 12
You have 12 buckets of stones but the ratio says 6.
That is OK, you simply have twice as many stones as the number in the ratio ...
so you need twice as much of everything to keep the ratio.
Here is the solution:
Cement Sand Stones
Ratio Needed: 1 2 6
You Have: 2 4 12
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Why are they the same ratio? Well, the 1:2:6 ratio says to have:
twice as much Sand as Cement (1:2:6)
6 times as much Stones as Cement (1:2:6)
In our mix we have:
twice as much Sand as Cement (2:4:12)
6 times as much Stones as Cement (2:4:12)
So it should be just right!
7
Try It Yourself
If a concete mixer has a capacity of 13 buckets, find the proportion in bucket of
cement, sand and stones using the same scale 1:2:6 such that their total number
of buckets of all materials 13 buckets.
That is the good thing about ratios. You can make the amounts bigger or smaller and
so long as the relative sizes are the same then the ratio is the same.
You may watch the learning video here to learn further the Ratio and
Proportion
https://youtu.be/BrLb-jZRmio
End of Discussion
Assessment:
QUIZ 2 – RATIO AND PROPORTION
1. In the following diagram, what is the
ratio of gray squares to white squares?
a. 9 : 16 b. 9 : 7
c. 7 : 16 d. 16 : 9 e. none of the
choices
2. In the following diagram, what is
the ratio of gray balls to black balls
a. 6 : 4 b. 5 : 6
c. 3 : 2 d. 2 : 3 e. none of
the choices
3. A class of 32 students has 8 girls. What is the ratio
of girls to boys?
a. 8 : 32 b. 1 : 4 c. 3 : 1 d. 8 : 24 e. none
of the choices
4. Jim can run a mile in 5 minutes and 30 seconds.
John can run a mile in 6 minutes and 20 seconds. What
is the ratio of Jim's time to John's time?
a. 5.3 : 6.2 b. 33 : 38 c. 31 : 38
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d. 35 : 38 e. none of the choices
5. The distance between two towns on a map is 5 mm.
If the real distance between the two towns is 30 km,
what is the scale of the map?
a. 1 : 600,000 b. 1 : 60,000 c. 1 : 6,000
d. 1 : 600 e. none of the choices
6. A real horse is 2.1 m high. A statue of the horse is 3
m high. What is the ratio of the height of the horse to
the height of the statue?
a. 7 : 10 b. 6 : 11 c. 7 : 11 d. 11 : 7 e. none of
the choices
7. The tallest building in the world, the Burj Khalifa in
Dubai, is 828 meters tall. A model of the building is
made using the ratio 1 : 2,500. How high is the model
in centimeters?
a. 16.56 cm b. 1,656 cm c. 165.6 cm
d. 1.656 cm e. none of the choices
8. Alice and Olivia share some sweets in the ratio of
3:1. Alice gives 22 sweets to Olivia and now the ratio is
5:3. What is the difference of the sweets they had
initially?
a. 87 b. 89 c. 88 d. 90 e. none of
the choices
9. A recipe for pastry has flour, butter and water mixed
in the ratio 24 : 8 : 3. If Fiona follows the recipe and
uses 4 cups of flour, how many cups of butter should
she use?
a. 1 cup b. 3/8 cup c. 4/3 cup
10. ∠AOC is a right angle and
d. 8/3 cup e. none of the choices
the ratio ∠AOB : ∠BOC = 3 : 2
What is the size of angle BOC?
a. 36° b. 45° c.
54°
d. 60° e. none of the
choices
ratio of the angles is: ∠AOB :
11. AOC is a straight line and the
∠BOC = 3 : 9. What is the size of
angle AOB?
a. 42° b. 40° c.
48°
d. 60° e. none of the choices
12. Two numbers are in ratio of 3 : 8 and their LCM is
216. The smaller number is,
a. 23 b. 24 c. 25 d. 26 e. none
of the choices
13. The incomes of A, B and C are in the ratio of 7 : 9 :
12 and their spendings are in the ratio of 8 : 9 : 15. If
A saves 1/3 of his income, then the savings of A, B
and C are in the ratio of,
a. 56:99:69 b. 28:45:39 c. 25:43:38 d. 1:2:3 e.
none of the choices
14. What fraction of the squares
are gray?
a. 6/16 b. 3/8 c.
8/3
d. 5/8 e. none of the
choices
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15. What is the ratio of gray
triangles to all triangles?
a. 2/5 b. 2/3 c. 3/5
d. 3/2 e. none of the choices
16. What fraction of the
apples are black?
a. 2/3 b. 1/3
c. 1/4 d. 3/4 e. none
of the choices
17. The ratio of black cars to colored cars in the car
park is 4 : 6
What fraction of the cars in the car park are colored?
a. 4/10 b. 4/6 c. 6/4 d. 2/5 e. none of
the choices
18. Carl got twice as many marks in Calculus as in
Biology. His total marks in Calculus , Biology and
Thermodynamics is 180. If the ratio of his marks in
Thermodynamics and Calculus is 3 : 2, what is her
marks in Biology?
a. 40 b. 30 c. 50 d. 62 e. none of the
choices
19. A coin is tossed several times and the ratio of
heads to tails is 22 : 26. What fraction of the tosses
are tails?
a. 13/24 b. 11/24 c. 11/13 d. 22/26 e. none
of the choices
20. Maggie and her little
sister Minnie are in
proportion. What is Minnie's
height?
a. 34 b. 32
c. 35 d. 36
e. none of the choices
21. The two glasses are in
proportion. What is the height of the
smaller glass?
a. 4.12 b. 4.44 c.
4.29
d. 4.36
e. none of the choices
22. 1 kg of cashews costs P170 and 1 kg of walnuts
costs P200. If a mixture of cashews and walnuts is sold
at P180 per kg, then what fraction of the total mixture
are cashews?
a. 1/4 b. 1/5 c. 2/3 d. 1/3 e. none of the
choices
23. Two numbers are in the ratio of 1 1/2:2 2/3. When
each of these is increased by 24, the ratio changes to
1 2/3:2 1/2. The larger of the numbers is,
a. 48 b. 32 c. 36 d. 40 e. none of the
choices
24. Mother divided the money among Ron, Sam and
Maria in the ratio 2 : 3 : 5. If Sam got P150, find the
total amount and the money received by Ron and
Maria.
a. 300 b. 400 c. 450 d. 320
e. none of the choices
25. A total of 300 cash consists of 1-peso, 5-peso and
10-peso coins, their values being in the ratio of 125 :
135 : C. Find the ratio (in terms of quantity of coins) of
5-peso coins to 10-peso coins.
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a. 27:4 b. 27:8 c. 135:125 d. 8:27 e. none
of the choices
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CLARIFICATION?
You may contact me through the following:
Text/Call: Globe - 09171154944
Messenger: Jhet Maymay
Gmail: [email protected]
SSU Classroom Message
2.3 References
Ratios and Proportion (n.d.). Byju’s The Learning App. https://byjus.com/maths/ratios-
and-proportion/
Ratios (n.d.). Math is Fun. https://www.mathsisfun.com/numbers/ratio.html
Proportion (n.d.) Math is Fun. https://www.mathsisfun.com/algebra/proportions.html
2.4 Acknowledgment
The images, tables, figures and information contained in this module were taken from
the references cited above.
