Dont think im stupid but...what exactly is a ratio? And in words that i could understannd!!?

Answer 1

A ratio is the comparing of two amounts written as a fraction or with a colon (:).

Answer 2

A ratio is another way of writing a fraction. It is mainly used for COMPARISONS.

An example may help to explain this. Suppose that your friend receives an allowance of $30 per week, but you only get $25. Then the ratio of your friend's allowance to yours is:

30:25 = 6:5 or 1.25:1 (You can end by saying that the ratio IS 1.25)

You'll see that the simplification steps above are EXACTLY the same as if you'd written the comparison as an (IMPROPER) fraction, that is a fraction whose value is GREATER than 1:

30/25 = 6/5 = 1.25/1 = 1.25

The ratio of YOUR allowance to your friend's is:

25:30 = 5:6 or 0.83... :1 or simply 0.83... .

Now it's the same as writing a PROPER fraction, a fraction whose value is LESS than 1.

WHY are ratios NEEDED; why not STICK WITH FRACTIONS ?! :

You need to know about comparing things, expressed as a "ratio," because that's how people talk and write. They say "the ratio of this year's budget to last year's" rather than "the fraction of this year's budget to last year's."

Also, there's no implied prejudice in ratios being greater or less than 1. This is unlike the implied use of the word "fraction."

If you say "This year the government is only spending a fraction of the amount it spent last year on supporting the National Foundation for the Humanities," you almost automatically say to yourself, "Oh, that means LESS, and in fact MUCH LESS." But of course, with the mathematical understanding that fractions can be both "proper" (< 1) and "improper" (> 1), ANY amount CAN be expressed as a fraction of any other. That's the cold, hard, logical mathematical fact, but people just aren't cold, hard mathematical logicians in their daily speech.

(I'm talking about humans, rather than we Vulcans, of course.)

I hope this has clarified both what ratios are, and why they are used.

Live long and prosper.

Answer 3

A ratio is the comparitive magnitude of 2 numbers; for instance the ratio of 8 to 2 may be stated as 8/2 or 4. This simply means that the magnitude of 8 is four times that of 2.

Answer 4

I ratio is a comparing or contrasting of 2 numbers (quantities) by the implied operation of division.

You notice in other answers the implied operation can be written with a colon or with a fraction bar. (i generally prefer a fraction bar; and also much prefer it to be a horizontal bar (instead of the awkward forward slash that typing demands -- for this reason:)
Because DIVISION IS NOT COMMUTATIVE, that is, a/b is NOT always equal to b/a -- the horizontal fraction bar makes it more obvious which fraction part is the dividend (the top part, numerator) and which part is the divisor (the bottom part, denominator).

Further, if you equate or work with ratios, especially those with units, your horizontal fraction bar allows you to attach the units easier to the ratio and see rather readily if the ratios you're setting equal are valid.

As an example to illustrate 60miles/1hour =

[60miles(5280ft/1mile)] divided by
[(1hour)(60min/1hour)(60sec/1min)] = 88feet/1sec

This is a terrible ratio to illustrate on the typed page (from miles per hour to feet per second), but with handwritten fractions and horizontal fraction bars it's much more easily seen. Yahoo answers cut off my unit just left of the "=" sign; it's 60 sec per min.

Answer 5

A ratio is comparing two thngs but you want to list them together so it is often written as a fraction or as a ratio of the other.
3 boys out of 4 boys got an A last week,
3:4 boys got an A last week
3/4 boys got an A last week

3 out of 10 games were Home Games
3:10 games were Home Games
3/10 games were Home Gams

In other wods, it is just short - hand for numbers

Answer 6

A ratio is a comparison. The ratio of boys to girls is how many boys there are compared to how many girls there are. If you have 5 boys and 6 girls, the ratio of boys to girls is 5:6. If you have 5 boys and 10 girls, the ratio of boys to girls is 5:10 or 1:2. Just like a fraction, you can divide both sides by the same number to simplify it.

Answer 7

Unless I know your age and school grade, it's kind of hard for me to know what words you might understand.

But here is my try at it.

A "ratio" is two numbers, in order. Like 3:7.
It means that on one hand you have 3 things, and on the other hand you have 7. The ratio is 3 to 7.

Does that help a bit?

Some times a ratio is given as one number, like 0.42.
That means you on one side you have 1 thing, and on the other side 0.42 things. Like $1 and 42 cents.

Answer 8

A ratio can be expressed as a fraction or a colon :

if there's 20 lollypops and 22 chocolates, the ratio of lollypops to chocolates would be 20:22 or 20/22

the ratio of chocolates to lollypops would be the opposite. it would be 22:20 or 22/20

Answer 9

it's a mathematical relationship that compares numbers.
for instance: if you have 2 cookies and 3 brownies, the ratio of cookies to brownies is 2:3. it can also be written as 2/3 in higher math courses. They just give you a way to look at how numbers stack up to one another.

Answer 10

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