Question

The ratio of boys to girls in a class is 2:4. If there are 24 students total in the class, how many of them are boys?

Answer 1

There are `8` boys

Explanation:

Firstly, we can simplify the ratio of boys to girls to `1:2`.

Then, to find out how many students each ratio represents, we add up `1` and `2` to get `3` (`1+2=3`).

By dividing `3` by the number of students, we can find how many students ONE ratio represents: `24/3=8`.

So ONE ratio is equal to `8` boys. Since our simplified ratio of boys to girls is `1:2` already, we do not have to do further multiplying - the number of boys is simply `8`.

For the girls, simply multiply `2` by `8` to get `16.`

Check: `8` `"boys"` `+18` `"girls"` `= 24` `"students"`.

Answer 2

`8`

Explanation:

Multiply every number by `4`.

If two boys and four girls gives a class size of six, then keeping the `1:2` ratio, `8:16` gives a class size of `24`.

An easy way to think of it is in fractions

`2/4 = 1/2`

but `2` is really `1+1`. Now you have three students, so every ratio has to give a class size that's `3x`. If

`3x=24`

then you can just divide by `3` to give you your answer because the boy's is one-third of the entire class. To find the girls, it's `2:3`, or `1.5`.

Just divide `24` by `1.5` to find your `x` value `(16)`. To double check our answer, does

`8+16=24?`

and does

`8/16 = 1/2" " ?`