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Course: 7th grade > Unit 4
- Worked example: Solving proportions
- Writing proportions example
- Proportion word problem: cookies
- Proportion word problem: hot dogs
Multi-step ratio and percent problems
Problem 1: magic carpet.
- 10 10 1 0 10 parts gold yarn
- 7 7 7 7 parts bronze yarn
- 3 3 3 3 parts silver yarn
- Your answer should be
- an integer, like 6 6 6 6
- a simplified proper fraction, like 3 / 5 3/5 3 / 5 3, slash, 5
- a simplified improper fraction, like 7 / 4 7/4 7 / 4 7, slash, 4
- a mixed number, like 1 3 / 4 1\ 3/4 1 3 / 4 1, space, 3, slash, 4
- an exact decimal, like 0.75 0.75 0 . 7 5 0, point, 75
- a multiple of pi, like 12 pi 12\ \text{pi} 1 2 pi 12, space, start text, p, i, end text or 2 / 3 pi 2/3\ \text{pi} 2 / 3 pi 2, slash, 3, space, start text, p, i, end text
Problem 2: Soccer
- On Monday, Joel exercises for 20 20 2 0 20 minutes before school, and 25 % 25\% 2 5 % 25, percent of that time is spent playing soccer.
- On Monday, Joel exercises for 60 60 6 0 60 minutes after school, and 40 % 40\% 4 0 % 40, percent of that time is spent playing soccer.
Problem 3: Candles
- 2 2 2 2 parts red wax
- 5 5 5 5 parts yellow wax
- 3 3 3 3 parts white wax
- (Choice A) 5 10 \dfrac5{10} 1 0 5 start fraction, 5, divided by, 10, end fraction quarts A 5 10 \dfrac5{10} 1 0 5 start fraction, 5, divided by, 10, end fraction quarts
- (Choice B) 1 1 1 1 quart B 1 1 1 1 quart
- (Choice C) 2 1 2 2\dfrac12 2 2 1 2, start fraction, 1, divided by, 2, end fraction quarts C 2 1 2 2\dfrac12 2 2 1 2, start fraction, 1, divided by, 2, end fraction quarts
- (Choice D) 25 25 2 5 25 quarts D 25 25 2 5 25 quarts
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In order to access this I need to be confident with:
Dividing a quantity into a ratio
Scale ratios
This topic is relevant for:
Ratio Problem Solving
Here we will learn about ratio problem solving, including how to set up and solve problems. We will also look at real life ratio problems.
There are also ratio problem solving worksheets based on Edexcel, AQA and OCR exam questions, along with further guidance on where to go next if you’re still stuck.
What is ratio problem solving?
Ratio problem solving is a collection of word problems that link together aspects of ratio and proportion into more real life questions. This requires you to be able to take key information from a question and use your knowledge of ratios (and other areas of the curriculum) to solve the problem.
A ratio is a relationship between two or more quantities . They are usually written in the form a:b where a and b are two quantities. When problem solving with a ratio, the key facts that you need to know are,
- What is the ratio involved?
- What order are the quantities in the ratio?
- What is the total amount / what is the part of the total amount known?
- What are you trying to calculate ?
As with all problem solving, there is not one unique method to solve a problem. However, this does not mean that there aren’t similarities between different problems that we can use to help us find an answer.
The key to any problem solving is being able to draw from prior knowledge and use the correct piece of information to allow you to get to the next step and then the solution.
Let’s look at a couple of methods we can use when given certain pieces of information.
When solving ratio problems it is very important that you are able to use ratios. This includes being able to use ratio notation.
For example, Charlie and David share some sweets in the ratio of 3:5. This means that for every 3 sweets Charlie gets, David receives 5 sweets.
Charlie and David share 40 sweets, how many sweets do they each get?
We use the ratio to divide 40 sweets into 8 equal parts.
Then we multiply each part of the ratio by 5.
3 x 5:5 x 5 = 15:25
This means that Charlie will get 15 sweets and David will get 25 sweets.
- Dividing ratios
Step-by-step guide: Dividing ratios (coming soon)
Ratios and fractions (proportion problems)
We also need to consider problems involving fractions. These are usually proportion questions where we are stating the proportion of the total amount as a fraction.
Step-by-step guide: Ratios and fractions (coming soon)
Simplifying and equivalent ratios
- Simplifying ratios
Equivalent ratios
Units and conversions ratio questions
Units and conversions are usually equivalent ratio problems (see above).
- If £1:\$1.37 and we wanted to convert £10 into dollars, we would multiply both sides of the ratio by 10 to get £10 is equivalent to \$13.70.
- The scale on a map is 1:25,000. I measure 12cm on the map. How far is this in real life, in kilometres? After multiplying both parts of the ratio by 12 you must then convert 12 \times 25000=300000 \ cm to km by dividing the solution by 100 \ 000 to get 3km.
Notice that for all three of these examples, the units are important. For example if we write the mapping example as the ratio 4cm:1km, this means that 4cm on the map is 1km in real life.
Top tip: if you are converting units, always write the units in your ratio.
Usually with ratio problem solving questions, the problems are quite wordy . They can involve missing values , calculating ratios , graphs , equivalent fractions , negative numbers , decimals and percentages .
Highlight the important pieces of information from the question, know what you are trying to find or calculate , and use the steps above to help you start practising how to solve problems involving ratios.
How to do ratio problem solving
In order to solve problems including ratios:
Identify key information within the question.
Know what you are trying to calculate.
Use prior knowledge to structure a solution.
Explain how to do ratio problem solving
Ratio problem solving worksheet
Get your free ratio problem solving worksheet of 20+ questions and answers. Includes reasoning and applied questions.
Related lessons on ratio
Ratio problem solving is part of our series of lessons to support revision on ratio . You may find it helpful to start with the main ratio lesson for a summary of what to expect, or use the step by step guides below for further detail on individual topics. Other lessons in this series include:
- How to work out ratio
- Ratio to fraction
- Ratio scale
- Ratio to percentage
Ratio problem solving examples
Example 1: part:part ratio.
Within a school, the number of students who have school dinners to packed lunches is 5:7. If 465 students have a school dinner, how many students have a packed lunch?
Within a school, the number of students who have school dinners to packed lunches is \bf{5:7.} If \bf{465} students have a school dinner , how many students have a packed lunch ?
Here we can see that the ratio is 5:7 where the first part of the ratio represents school dinners (S) and the second part of the ratio represents packed lunches (P).
We could write this as
Where the letter above each part of the ratio links to the question.
We know that 465 students have school dinner.
2 Know what you are trying to calculate.
From the question, we need to calculate the number of students that have a packed lunch, so we can now write a ratio below the ratio 5:7 that shows that we have 465 students who have school dinners, and p students who have a packed lunch.
We need to find the value of p.
3 Use prior knowledge to structure a solution.
We are looking for an equivalent ratio to 5:7. So we need to calculate the multiplier. We do this by dividing the known values on the same side of the ratio by each other.
So the value of p is equal to 7 \times 93=651.
There are 651 students that have a packed lunch.
Example 2: unit conversions
The table below shows the currency conversions on one day.
Use the table above to convert £520 (GBP) to Euros € (EUR).
Use the table above to convert \bf{£520} (GBP) to Euros \bf{€} (EUR).
The two values in the table that are important are GBP and EUR. Writing this as a ratio, we can state
We know that we have £520.
We need to convert GBP to EUR and so we are looking for an equivalent ratio with GBP = £520 and EUR = E.
To get from 1 to 520, we multiply by 520 and so to calculate the number of Euros for £520, we need to multiply 1.17 by 520.
1.17 \times 520=608.4
So £520 = €608.40.
Example 3: writing a ratio 1:n
Liquid plant food is sold in concentrated bottles. The instructions on the bottle state that the 500ml of concentrated plant food must be diluted into 2l of water. Express the ratio of plant food to water respectively in the ratio 1:n.
Liquid plant food is sold in concentrated bottles. The instructions on the bottle state that the \bf{500ml} of concentrated plant food must be diluted into \bf{2l} of water . Express the ratio of plant food to water respectively as a ratio in the form 1:n.
Using the information in the question, we can now state the ratio of plant food to water as 500ml:2l. As we can convert litres into millilitres, we could convert 2l into millilitres by multiplying it by 1000.
2l = 2000ml
So we can also express the ratio as 500:2000 which will help us in later steps.
We want to simplify the ratio 500:2000 into the form 1:n.
We need to find an equivalent ratio where the first part of the ratio is equal to 1. We can only do this by dividing both parts of the ratio by 500 (as 500 \div 500=1 ).
So the ratio of plant food to water in the form 1:n is 1:4.
Example 4: forming and solving an equation
Three siblings, Josh, Kieran and Luke, receive pocket money per week proportional to their age. Kieran is 3 years older than Josh. Luke is twice Josh’s age. If Josh receives £8 pocket money, how much money do the three siblings receive in total?
Three siblings, Josh, Kieran and Luke, receive pocket money per week proportional to their ages. Kieran is \bf{3} years older than Josh . Luke is twice Josh’s age. If Luke receives \bf{£8} pocket money, how much money do the three siblings receive in total ?
We can represent the ages of the three siblings as a ratio. Taking Josh as x years old, Kieran would therefore be x+3 years old, and Luke would be 2x years old. As a ratio, we have
We also know that Luke receives £8.
We want to calculate the total amount of pocket money for the three siblings.
We need to find the value of x first. As Luke receives £8, we can state the equation 2x=8 and so x=4.
Now we know the value of x, we can substitute this value into the other parts of the ratio to obtain how much money the siblings each receive.
The total amount of pocket money is therefore 4+7+8=£19.
Example 5: simplifying ratios
Below is a bar chart showing the results for the colours of counters in a bag.
Express this data as a ratio in its simplest form.
From the bar chart, we can read the frequencies to create the ratio.
We need to simplify this ratio.
To simplify a ratio, we need to find the highest common factor of all the parts of the ratio. By listing the factors of each number, you can quickly see that the highest common factor is 2.
\begin{aligned} &12 = 1, {\color{red} 2}, 3, 4, 6, 12 \\\\ &16 = 1, {\color{red} 2}, 4, 8, 16 \\\\ &10 = 1, {\color{red} 2}, 5, 10 \end{aligned}
HCF (12,16,10) = 2
Dividing all the parts of the ratio by 2 , we get
Our solution is 6:8:5 .
Example 6: combining two ratios
Glass is made from silica, lime and soda. The ratio of silica to lime is 15:2. The ratio of silica to soda is 5:1. State the ratio of silica:lime:soda.
Glass is made from silica, lime and soda. The ratio of silica to lime is \bf{15:2.} The ratio of silica to soda is \bf{5:1.} State the ratio of silica:lime:soda .
We know the two ratios
We are trying to find the ratio of all 3 components: silica, lime and soda.
Using equivalent ratios we can say that the ratio of silica:soda is equivalent to 15:3 by multiplying the ratio by 3.
We now have the same amount of silica in both ratios and so we can now combine them to get the ratio 15:2:3.
Example 7: using bar modelling
India and Beau share some popcorn in the ratio of 5:2. If India has 75g more popcorn than Beau, what was the original quantity?
India and Beau share some popcorn in the ratio of \bf{5:2.} If India has \bf{75g} more popcorn than Beau , what was the original quantity?
We know that the initial ratio is 5:2 and that India has three more parts than Beau.
We want to find the original quantity.
Drawing a bar model of this problem, we have
Where India has 5 equal shares, and Beau has 2 equal shares.
Each share is the same value and so if we can find out this value, we can then find the total quantity.
From the question, India’s share is 75g more than Beau’s share so we can write this on the bar model.
We can find the value of one share by working out 75 \div 3=25g.
We can fill in each share to be 25g.
Adding up each share, we get
India = 5 \times 25=125g
Beau = 2 \times 25=50g
The total amount of popcorn was 125+50=175g.
Common misconceptions
- Mixing units
Make sure that all the units in the ratio are the same. For example, in example 6 , all the units in the ratio were in millilitres. We did not mix ml and l in the ratio.
- Ratio written in the wrong order
For example the number of dogs to cats is given as the ratio 12:13 but the solution is written as 13:12.
- Ratios and fractions confusion
Take care when writing ratios as fractions and vice-versa. Most ratios we come across are part:part. The ratio here of red:yellow is 1:2. So the fraction which is red is \frac{1}{3} (not \frac{1}{2} ).
- Counting the number of parts in the ratio, not the total number of shares
For example, the ratio 5:4 has 9 shares, and 2 parts. This is because the ratio contains 2 numbers but the sum of these parts (the number of shares) is 5+4=9. You need to find the value per share, so you need to use the 9 shares in your next line of working.
- Ratios of the form \bf{1:n}
The assumption can be incorrectly made that n must be greater than 1 , but n can be any number, including a decimal.
Practice ratio problem solving questions
1. An online shop sells board games and computer games. The ratio of board games to the total number of games sold in one month is 3:8. What is the ratio of board games to computer games?
8-3=5 computer games sold for every 3 board games.
2. The volume of gas is directly proportional to the temperature (in degrees Kelvin). A balloon contains 2.75l of gas and has a temperature of 18^{\circ}K. What is the volume of gas if the temperature increases to 45^{\circ}K?
3. The ratio of prime numbers to non-prime numbers from 1-200 is 45:155. Express this as a ratio in the form 1:n.
4. The angles in a triangle are written as the ratio x:2x:3x. Calculate the size of each angle.
5. A clothing company has a sale on tops, dresses and shoes. \frac{1}{5} of sales were for tops, \frac{1}{3} of sales were for dresses, and the rest were for shoes. Write a ratio of tops to dresses to shoes sold in its simplest form.
6. During one month, the weather was recorded into 3 categories: sunshine, cloud and rain. The ratio of sunshine to cloud was 2:3 and the ratio of cloud to rain was 9:11. State the ratio that compares sunshine:cloud:rain for the month.
Ratio problem solving GCSE questions
1. One mole of water weighs 18 grams and contains 6.02 \times 10^{23} water molecules.
Write this in the form 1gram:n where n represents the number of water molecules in standard form.
2. A plank of wood is sawn into three pieces in the ratio 3:2:5. The first piece is 36cm shorter than the third piece.
Calculate the length of the plank of wood.
5-3=2 \ parts = 36cm so 1 \ part = 18cm
3. (a) Jenny is x years old. Sally is 4 years older than Jenny. Kim is twice Jenny’s age. Write their ages in a ratio J:S:K.
(b) Sally is 16 years younger than Kim. Calculate the sum of their ages.
Learning checklist
You have now learned how to:
- Relate the language of ratios and the associated calculations to the arithmetic of fractions and to linear functions
- Develop their mathematical knowledge, in part through solving problems and evaluating the outcomes, including multi-step problems
- Make and use connections between different parts of mathematics to solve problems
The next lessons are
- Compound measures
- Best buy maths
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Edexcel GCSE Foundation Unit 11 - Ratio & Proportion
Subject: Mathematics
Age range: 14-16
Resource type: Unit of work
Each upload is a unit for the EdExcel GCSE spec. Each PowerPoint includes starters, class work, examples, plenary + answers. I teach these myself and I upload them as I create them. If I reteach anything, I update it on here. Most material is made from things I've accumulated over the years from others or things I have created myself. I don't remember every item I have used and who from (hence my stuff is all free), as it was when I first used it. If you want to get me a coffee: Paypal @abhawtin
Last updated
17 January 2022
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Following the Pearson Edexcel GCSE SOW for foundation students, Unit 11 - Ratio & Proportion. Simplifying, Writing Ratios, Ratio & Fractions, Sharing in Ratio, Ratio Part Given, Ratio Difference Given, Problem Solving, Best Buys, Recipes, Exchange Rates, Direct Proportion, Inverse Proportion . Each PowerPoint is a full lesson including starter, examples, questions and plenary. The retrieval starter will link to the prior lessons here and in prior units I’ve uploaded. Credits to Mr Barton, Corbett maths, drfrostmaths and others from whom i have sourced some questions and slides. Some are my own too. I’ll upload files as I go along
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Lorraine2705
Amazing resources. Thank you!
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Fantastic set of resources. Thank you for sharing,
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It cover quite a lot of topics and is good for long term memory recall of previous and future learning.
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These resources are phenomenal - thank you very much. Did you happen to do Unit 7 for Foundation on Averages as i can't find it
Thank you for your comments. Unit 5, 6 & 7 was when I had a trainee with me so never planned my own stuff (I only started uploading this last year from scratch). It's in the pipeline at some point though, but may be next academic year before I get to teaching it again.
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LESSON 3 Solving Proportion Problems 12 | Math Foundation Unit—Grade 7: Intro setting the direction Here is a summary of the properties of equality: Properties of Equality Re#exive Property of Equality a = a. Symmetric Property of Equality If a = b, then b = a. Transitive Property of Equality If a = b and b = c, then a = c. Addition Property of Equality If a = b, then a + c = b + c.
Things to remember. A ratio is a comparison of two quantities. A proportion is an equality of two ratios. To write a ratio: Determine whether the ratio is part to part or part to whole. Calculate the parts and the whole if needed. Plug values into the ratio. Simplify the ratio if needed.
In other words, 150/20 is 7.5 so we already have half of the ratio (The answer must be an equivalent ratio to 3 : 20). __:150. To get the last half of the answer, we must multiply 7.5 by 3 because we already found out that 150/20 is 7.5. 3 x 7.5 is 22.5 so the answer is 22.5 : 150.
Ratio tables are another technique for solving ratio problems. How to solve a proportion problem. As we have seen, ratio and proportion are strongly linked. ... (Foundation) Ratio GCSE exam questions foundation. 7. The students in Ellie's class walk, cycle or drive to school in the ratio 2:1:4. If 8 students walk, how many students are there ...
Ratio: Problem Solving Textbook Exercise - Corbettmaths. October 7, 2019 corbettmaths.
Ratio problem solving GCSE questions. 1. One mole of water weighs 18 18 grams and contains 6.02 \times 10^ {23} 6.02 × 1023 water molecules. Write this in the form 1gram:n 1gram: n where n n represents the number of water molecules in standard form. 2.
pptx, 1.83 MB. GCSE Maths Problem Solving Foundation Questions. This KS4 GCSE-Style Questions - Foundation Set 3 Question Set contains GCSE-Style questions that typically appear on foundation papers. There are a variety of topics and skills tested in order to prepare students for the GCSE exam. Registering for an LbQ account will give you ...
This plan builds on what Mathletes already know about ratios to introduce the definition of probability as a ratio of desired outcomes to total outcomes. Mathletes will then practice calculating the likelihood of single events. Download the Mathlete handout. Download the coaches version with solutions.
The Math Learning Center grants permission to writers to quote passages and illustrations, with attribution, for academic publications or research purposes. Suggested attribution: "Learning to Think Mathematically with the Ratio Table," Jeffrey Frykholm, 2013. The Math Learning Center is a nonprofit organization serving the education community.
Ready-to-use mathematics resources for Key Stage 3, Key Stage 4 and GCSE maths classes.
Draw 3 parts for lions and 2 parts for tigers, with a total of 55. Divide the total number of big cats (55) in the ratio 3 : 2. To find the value of one part, divide the amount (55) by the total ...
The Corbettmaths Practice Questions on Ratio. Videos, worksheets, 5-a-day and much more
Following the Pearson Edexcel GCSE SOW for foundation students, Unit 11 - Ratio & Proportion. Simplifying, Writing Ratios, Ratio & Fractions, Sharing in Ratio, Ratio Part Given, Ratio Difference Given, Problem Solving, Best Buys, Recipes, Exchange Rates, Direct Proportion, Inverse Proportion . Each PowerPoint is a full lesson including starter ...
Explore how to divide a value into a given ratio, and understand links between ratios and fractions with this BBC Bitesize Maths article. For students ages 11 to 14. Solving ratio problems