nuMber AnD AlgebrA
• real numbers
fractions as ratios
4g
introduction to ratios
Ratios are used in many aspects of everyday life. They are used to compare quantities of the
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same kind.
Where might you hear the following comparisons? What are the quantities being
compared?
1. Michael Schumacher’s F1 car is twice as fast as Mick’s delivery van.
1
2. You will need 2 buckets of water for every
bucket of sand.
2
3. The fertiliser contains 3 parts of phosphorus to 2 parts of potassium.
4. The Tigers team fi nished the season with a win : loss ratio of 5 to 2.
5. Mix 1 teaspoon of salt with 4 teaspoons of fl our.
In the last example we are considering the ratio of salt (1 teaspoon) to fl our (4 teaspoons). We
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write 1 : 4 and say, ‘one is to four’; we are actually mixing a total of 5 teaspoons. Ratios can
also be written in fraction form:
1
1 : 4 «
4
Note: Since the ratios compare quantities of the same kind, they do not have a
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name or unit of measurement. That is, we write the ratio of salt to fl our as 1 : 4, not
1 teaspoon : 4 teaspoons. The order of the numbers in a ratio is important. In the example
of the ratio of salt and fl our, 1 : 4 means 1 unit (for example a teaspoon) of salt to 4 units of
fl our. The amount of fl our is 4 times as large as the amount of salt. On the contrary, the ratio
4 : 1 means 4 units of salt to 1 unit of fl our, which means the amount of salt is 4 times as
large as the amount of fl our.
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Chapter 4
rational numbers