A proportion is a name we give to a statement that two ratios are equal.

It can be written in two ways:

two equal fractions,

or,

using a colon, a:b = c:d

When two ratios are equal, then the cross products of the ratios are equal.

That is, for the proportion, a:b = c:d , a x d = b x c

A proportion is simply a statement that two ratios are equal. It can be written in two ways: as two equal
fractions a/b = c/d; or using a colon, a:b = c:d. The following proportion is read as "twenty is to twenty-
five as four is to five."

In problems involving proportions, we can use cross products to test whether two ratios are equal and
form a proportion. To find the cross products of a proportion, we multiply the outer terms, called the
extremes, and the middle terms, called the means.

Here, 20 and 5 are the extremes, and 25 and 4 are the means. Since the cross products are both equal to
one hundred, we know that these ratios are equal and that this is a true proportion.

Proportions

Proportion says that two ratios (or fractions) are equal.

Example:

proportion 1/3 : 2/6

So 1-out-of-3 is equal to 2-out-of-6

The ratios are the same, so they are in proportion.

Example: Rope

A rope's length and weight are in proportion.

When 20m of rope weighs 1kg, then:

40m of that rope weighs 2kg

200m of that rope weighs 10kg

etc.

rope 20m / 1kg : 40m / 2kg

So:

201 = 402

Sizes

When shapes are "in proportion" their relative sizes are the same.

Here we see that the ratios of head length to body length are the same in both drawings.

So they are proportional.

Making the head too long or short would look bad!

proportion 10/20 : 15/30

Example: International paper sizes (like A3, A4, A5, etc) all have the same proportions:

paper size resize

So any artwork or document can be resized to fit on any sheet. Very neat.

Working With Proportions

NOW, how do we use this?

Example: you want to draw the dog's head ... how long should it be?

proportion dog

Let us write the proportion with the help of the 10/20 ratio from above:

?42 = 1020

Now we solve it using a special method:

?/42 : 10/20

Multiply across the known corners,

then divide by the third number

And we get this:

? = (42 × 10) / 20
= 420 / 20

= 21

So you should draw the head 21 long.

Using Proportions to Solve Percents

A percent is actually a ratio! Saying "25%" is actually saying "25 per 100":

25% = 25100

We can use proportions to solve questions involving percents.

The trick is to put what we know into this form:

PartWhole = Percent100

Example: what is 25% of 160 ?

The percent is 25, the whole is 160, and we want to find the "part":

Part160 = 25100

Multiply across the known corners, then divide by the third number:

Part/160 : 25/100
Part = (160 × 25) / 100

= 4000 / 100

= 40

Answer: 25% of 160 is 40.

Note: we could have also solved this by doing the divide first, like this:

Part = 160 × (25 / 100)

= 160 × 0.25

= 40

Either method works fine.

We can also find a Percent:

Example: what is $12 as a percent of $80 ?

Fill in what we know:

$12$80 = Percent100

Multiply across the known corners, then divide by the third number. This time the known corners are top
left and bottom right:

$12/$80 : Percent/100

Percent = ($12 × 100) / $80

= 1200 / 80

= 15%

Answer: $12 is 15% of $80

Or find the Whole:

Example: The sale price of a phone was $150, which was only 80% of normal price. What was the normal
price?

Fill in what we know:

$150Whole = 80100

Multiply across the known corners, then divide by the third number:

$150/whole : 80/100

Whole = ($150 × 100) / 80

= 15000 / 80

= 187.50

Answer: the phone's normal price was $187.50

Using Proportions to Solve Triangles

We can use proportions to solve similar triangles.

Example: How tall is the Tree?

Sam tried using a ladder, tape measure, ropes and various other things, but still couldn't work out how
tall the tree was.
proportion tree

But then Sam has a clever idea ... similar triangles!

Sam measures a stick and its shadow (in meters), and also the shadow of the tree, and this is what he
gets:

proportion

Now Sam makes a sketch of the triangles, and writes down the "Height to Length" ratio for both
triangles:

Height:Shadow Length: h2.9 m = 2.4 m1.3 m

Multiply across the known corners, then divide by the third number:

h = (2.9 × 2.4) / 1.3

= 6.96 / 1.3

= 5.4 m (to nearest 0.1)

Answer: the tree is 5.4 m tall.

And he didn't even need a ladder!

The "Height" could have been at the bottom, so long as it was on the bottom for BOTH ratios, like this:

proportion

Let us try the ratio of "Shadow Length to Height":

Shadow Length:Height: 2.9 mh = 1.3 m2.4 m

Multiply across the known corners, then divide by the third number:

h = (2.9 × 2.4) / 1.3

= 6.96 / 1.3

= 5.4 m (to nearest 0.1)

It is the same calculation as before.

A "Concrete" Example

Ratios can have more than two numbers!

For example concrete is made by mixing cement, sand, stones and water.

concrete pouring

A typical mix of cement, sand and stones is written as a ratio, such as 1:2:6.

We can multiply all values by the same amount and still have the same ratio.

10:20:60 is the same as 1:2:6

So when we use 10 buckets of cement, we should use 20 of sand and 60 of stones.

Example: you have just put 12 buckets of stones into a mixer, how much cement and how much sand
should you add to make a 1:2:6 mix?

Let us lay it out in a table to make it clearer:

CementSand Stones

Ratio Needed: 1 2 6
You Have: 12

You have 12 buckets of stones but the ratio says 6.

That is OK, you simply have twice as many stones as the number in the ratio ... so you need twice as
much of everything to keep the ratio.

Here is the solution:

CementSand Stones

Ratio Needed: 1 2 6

You Have: 2 4 12

And the ratio 2:4:12 is the same as 1:2:6 (because they show the same relative sizes)

So the answer is: add 2 buckets of Cement and 4 buckets of Sand. (You will also need water and a lot of
stirring....)

Why are they the same ratio? Well, the 1:2:6 ratio says to have:

twice as much Sand as Cement (1:2:6)

6 times as much Stones as Cement (1:2:6)

In our mix we have:

twice as much Sand as Cement (2:4:12)

6 times as much Stones as Cement (2:4:12)

So it should be just right!

That is the good thing about ratios. You can make the amounts bigger or smaller and so long as the
relative sizes are the same then the ratio is the same.

What is a Proportion?

A proportion is a mathematical comparison between two numbers. Often, these numbers can represent
a comparison between things or people. For example, say you walked into a room full of people. You
want to know how many boys there are in comparison to how many girls there are in the room. You
would write that comparison in the form of a proportion.
You can write mathematical proportions in two ways. You can compare the numbers with colons, or you
can write the proportion in the form of equivalent fractions.

Writing Proportions

Writing Proportions

For example, how many black and white animals to brown/orange animals are there?

Using Proportions to Show Relationships

Using Proportions to Show Relationships

In this image, there are three black and white animals compared to six brown/orange animals. You can
see this proportion written with a colon and as an equivalent fraction. When the fraction is simplified,
the equivalent fraction tells us that for every two orange animals there is one black and white animal.

Proportions and Equivalent Fractions

You can tell if two fractions are proportional by using cross multiplication. Only equivalent fractions are
proportional.

Finding Proportional Fractions Using Cross Multiplication

Finding Proportional Fractions Using Cross Multiplication

To do this, multiply the denominator, the bottom number in the fraction, of the first fraction with the
numerator, the top number in the fraction. Do the same thing with the numerator of the first fraction
and the denominator of the second fraction. If the product of the two equations are the same, then you
have equivalent fractions, and they are proportional!