If 478 people went to the movies and 57 of them were boys and the ratio is 5 boys to every girl, how many girls are there?

1 Answer
Jul 8, 2017

The question seems to contradict itself....

Explanation:

If #57# boys went to the moves and the ratio is #"boys:girls" = 5:1#, then the number of girls is #57div5 =11.4#, or just #11# girls.

But #57+ 11 = 68# and not #478#

If the total is #478#, then the number of boys will be:

#5/6 xx478 ~~398# boys and not #57# as given.

The question could be answered without the ratio.

Of #478# people, #57# are boys, then there are #421# girls.
(But the ratio does not work)