How do you solve ratio and proportion problems?

1 Answer
Apr 3, 2015

There are several types of ratio and proportion problems. Usually the question gives n things with their ratios and the sum of n things.

Example

John and Mike have $50 with ratio 2/3

To solve this, you simply do the followings:

John has 2k money and Mike has 3k money. Since the total money is $50:

2k+3k=50

k=10

So John has $20 and Mike has $30.

The core idea is using a variable like k to distribute the things as in the given ratio. Then by using the other given information you can solve the problem easily.