The ratio of forks to knives in Mabel's kitchen drawer is 4 to 5. There are 16 forks in the drawer. How many knives are there?

2 Answers
Oct 30, 2016

20 knives

Explanation:

Set up the problem as a ratio of forks to knives.

("forks")/("knives")=4/5=16/x

4/5=16/x

Cross multiply

4 *x = 5*16

4x=80

Dividide both sides by 4.

(4x)/4=80/4

x=20 knives

Oct 30, 2016

4:5

=4*4:5*4

=16:20

This means that there are 16 forks and 20 knives.