Maths questions

Need help understanding how to work this question out, can someone explain the method used please, as if I was 6 years old lol ?

" This table shows the number of employes by gender for 3 years"

What is the ratio of Woman to men

Men = 275

Woman 225

"possible answers"

2:3

9:11

11:9

3:2

?????? :)
 
nightrider1470 said:
Need help understanding how to work this question out, can someone explain the method used please, as if I was 6 years old lol ?

" This table shows the number of employes by gender for 3 years"

What is the ratio of Woman to men

Men = 275

Woman 225

"possible answers"

2:3

9:11

11:9

3:2

?????? :)
Click to expand...

So, 275/225 = 11/9. The common factor of the two is 25, so 11x25=275 and 9x25=225

Hope that explains it.
 
nightrider1470 said:
Need help understanding how to work this question out, can someone explain the method used please, as if I was 6 years old lol ?
Click to expand...

OK, a ratio is the number of one thing per other thing.

:(:(::):):) is a 2:3 ratio of frowns to smiles

But it usual to write it as the simplest possible ratio, so for

:(:(:(:(::):):):):):)

Rather than writing that as a 4:6 ratio we'd write it as a 2:3 ratio because there are still two :(s for each three :)s

With your question there is a ratio of 275 men to 225 women or a 275:225 ratio. But you can easily see both numbers divide by 5 (since they end in a 5) so that's a 55:45 ratio. Again that's not the simplest ratio because we can still divide both sides by 5 to leave an 11:9 ratio of men to women.

Except your question asked for women to men, didn't it? That's easy enough, just reverse it: a 9:11 ratio of women to men.
 
What that's asking you is to make a ratio simpler. The ratio of women:men is 225:275. You just need to work out how to make both sides of that as small as possible while still maintaining the same ratio. This might be easier to understand if you think of a simpler ratio, for example 2:3. 2000:3000 is the same as 2:3, but it's just got a few zeroes on the front. In the same way 6:8 is identical to 1:4. You can probably see easily how you simplify a small/simple ratio like these, as you just do it in your head without actually knowing what you're doing.

You need to find a number that both sides of the ratio will divide by without leaving a decimal answer. For example you can see that both those numbers will divide by 5, as they both end in 5. If you divide them both by 5 you get 45:55. Looking at this ratio you can again see that they can both be divided by 5, as they both end with 5. If you do this you'll get your answer! You'll find that you can tell when you've found your answer as you won't be able to divide any further while keeping whole numbers, it's just a case of dividing until you can't any more!

You may have noticed that both sides will divide by 25, I just fancied walking you through it.


:edit: I like the picture explanation a lot :D
 
nightrider1470 said:
Can I just ask how you work out the coman factor number each time to know what to devide the numbers by ?
Click to expand...

There's no single simple method for finding common factors to divide by. Intuition and guesswork is often the best way, sadly.

Otherwise you're looking for numbers they'll obviously divide by:

If a number is even it can be divided by two. So if both numbers are even, divide by two.

If a number ends in a 0 it can be divided by ten. So if both numbers end in a 0, divide both by ten.

If a number ends in a 5 it can be divided by five. So if...

There are tricks for working out whether numbers are divisible by 3, 6 or 9 also but sometimes the best thing is just to try some numbers and see what works. Just make sure you always divide both sides by the same number. Don't worry about making it in a single step, just keep breaking it down until you can't see a way to break it down anymore.
 
God damn, and I thought I was thick at maths, but here someone is struggling with the easiest questions in the world :O
 
A bit of off topic but might just blow some heads away.

50 pence = £1/2 = square root £1/4 = square root of 25pence = 5 pence

50 pence = 5 pence
 
Garee said:
You are saying that 50 = sqrt( 25 ).

Where did you get that from? :p
Click to expand...

Hmm let me see. sqrt(£1/4) = sqrt(£1)/sqrt(£4) = £1/2

Isn't that right or did I fail at maths once again

Also keep in mind the thing that makes it all messed up. I am saying 50 pence = sqrt(£0.25)
 
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Garee said:
You said £1/4 not 1/4 which is where I got 25 from. I was thinking in pence.
Click to expand...

Check my edit, I do not understand what you mean

I am going to confess I saw that somewhere, and obviously there's something fishy about that equation and I couldn't figure out what's wrong, so posted it here so that you brainacs could find a hole in that 50pence = 5 pence "equation".
 
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Nerusy said:
I am going to confess I saw that somewhere, and obviously there's something fishy about that equation and I couldn't figure out what's wrong, so posted it here so that you brainacs could find a hole in that 50pence = 5 pence "equation".
Click to expand...

You can't slop between units and expect your maths to work.
 
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