1. Use ratios and rates to solve real-life problems.

2. Solve proportions.
 A ratio is the comparison of two numbers written as a fraction.
For example: Your school’s basketball team has won 7 games
and lost 3 games. What is the ratio of wins to
losses?
Because we are comparing wins to losses the first
number in our ratio should be the number of wins and
the second number is the number of losses.
The ratio is ___________
games won _______
7 games __
7
= =
games lost 3 games 3
In a ratio, if the numerator and denominator are measured in
different units then the ratio is called a rate.
A unit rate is a rate per one given unit, like 60 miles per 1 hour.

Example: You can travel 120 miles on 60 gallons of gas.

What is your fuel efficiency in miles per gallon?

Rate = 120
________
miles = ________
20 miles
60 gallons 1 gallon

Your fuel efficiency is 20 miles per gallon.

Writing the units when comparing each unit of a rate is called unit
analysis.
You can multiply and divide units just like you would multiply and
divide numbers. When solving problems involving rates, you can
use unit analysis to determine the correct units for the answer.
Example: How many minutes are in 5 hours?
5 hours • 60
________
minutes = 300 minutes
1 hour

To solve this problem we need a unit rate that relates minutes to

hours. Because there are 60 minutes in an hour, the unit rate we
choose is 60 minutes per hour.
 An equation in which two ratios are equal is called a
proportion.
A proportion can be written using colon notation like this

a:b::c:d

or as the more recognizable (and useable) equivalence of two fractions.

___
a ___
c
=
b d
When Ratios are written in this order, a and d are the extremes, or
outside values, of the proportion, and b and c are the means, or
middle values, of the proportion.

a:b::c:d ___
a = ___
c
b d

Extremes
Means
To solve problems which require the use of a proportion we can use one
of two properties.

The reciprocal property of proportions.

If two ratios are equal, then their reciprocals are equal.

The cross product property of proportions.

The product of the extremes equals the product of the means

Example:

5 35
 Write the original proportion.
3 x
3 x
 Use the reciprocal property.
5 35
3 x Multiply both sides by 35 to isolate
35    35
5 35 the variable, then simplify.

21  x
Example:

2 6
 Write the original proportion.
x 9

92  6 x Use the cross product property.

18 6 x Divide both sides by 6 to isolate the


6 6 variable, then simplify.

3 x
If the average person lives for 75 years, how long would that be
in seconds?
 If the average person lives for 75 years, how long would that be
in seconds?
To solve this problem we need to convert 75 years to seconds. We
can do this by breaking the problem down into smaller parts by
converting years to days, days to hours, hours to minutes and
minutes to seconds.
There are 365.25 days in one year, 24 hours in one day, 60
minutes in 1 hour, and 60 seconds in a minute.

365.25 days 24 hours 60 minutes 60 seconds

75 years      2366820000
1 year 1 day 1 hour 1 minute seconds

Multiply the fractions, and use unit analysis to determine the

correct units for the answer.
John constructs a scale model of a building. He says that 3/4th
feet of height on the real building is 1/5th inches of height on
the model.
What is the ratio between the height of the model and the
height of the building?
If the model is 5 inches tall, how tall is the actual building in
feet?
What is the ratio between the height of the model and the
height of the building?
What two pieces of information does the problem give you
to write a ratio?
For every 3/4th feet of height on the building…
the model has 1/5th inches of height.
Therefore the ratio of the height of the model to the height
of the building is…
1 inches 1 4 4 inches
5    This is called a scale factor.
3 feet 5 3 15 feet
4
If the model is 5 inches tall, how tall is the actual building in
feet? To find the actual height of the building, use the ratio
from the previous step to write a proportion to represent
the question above.
4 inches 5 inches

15 feet x
4  x  5  15 Use the cross product.
4 x 75
 Isolate the variable, then simplify.
4 4
x  18.75 feet Don’t forget your units.