RATIOS AND PROPORTIONS

ANSWERS
Drill 1
1. C
2. B
3. B
4. D
5. 42
6. D
7. 90
8. A
9. C
10. D
11. E
12. A
13. 27
Drill 2
Drill 2
1. A, B, D, E
2. 1/3
3. B
4. E
5. C, F
6. B
7. 20
8. B
9. A, B, D
10. 22/9
11. A
12. B
13. 10
EXPLANATIONS
EXPLANATIONS
Drill 1
1. C A ratio is a part-to-part relationship, but it can be expressed and manipulated just like a fractionin this case, . None of the
answers have a fractional value in the denominator, so you need to find a multiplier that will get rid of the fraction. In this case, just
doubling the entire ratio will do the trick: .
2. B Read the chart carefully and then ballpark. Company Fs annual average donation was about 150 for 19801990 and about 100 for
19802000. Reduce 150:100 to 3:2.
3. B First, find that 400 milligrams 500 pills = 200,000 milligrams total. Then, convert to grams by dividing by 1,000 to find the
answer: 200 grams. When doing multiple conversions, be sure to label carefully and watch for arithmetic errors.
4. D Cross-multiply to find the value of b, . Then substitute in the values of a and b:
5. 42 To swim 4.2 times the original distance, James needs to swim for 4.2 times the original time. Multiply the original time of 10
minutes by 4.2 to get 42, the correct answer.
6. D Because you have variables, make your set-up on your scratch paper. Plug in different values for a and b. First, try 2 and 4: reduces
to , making the quantities equal. Eliminate choices (A) and (B). Next, try 2 and 6. reduces to , which is less than . Quantity B
is now greater, so eliminate choice (C). Youre left with choice (D).
7. 90 The three roommates spend a total of $210 on toilet paper. If you make your ratio box you will see that your ratio total is 7 and
your actual total is 210, so your multiplier is 30. Keri therefore needs to contribute $90.00 to the cost of the toilet paper.
8. A Divide both sides by b, then divide both sides by 36 to find: . Although , this does not mean that reduces to .
Use the Bowtie to compare the two fractions: 36 times 5 equals 180, while 6 times 25 equals 150. 180 is bigger, so Quantity A is
greater.
9. C Estimate to solve this one. The answer must be between 12.5 percent and 25 percent because you are mixing two punches with these
percentageseliminate all choices except choices (B) and (C). Because there is more of Flos punch, the answer must be closer to 25
percent than to 12.5 percent, so choice (C) is correct.
10. D Try Plugging In. If there are 10 cats at the beginning of the day, then there are 11 dogs; at the end of the day, there would be 15 cats
and 15 dogs. In this case, Quantity A and Quantity B are equal. Eliminate choices (A) and (B). However, there could be 20 cats and 22
dogs at the beginning of the day; then there would be 25 cats and 26 dogs at the end of the day. In that situation, Quantity B is
greater; eliminate choice (C). Only choice (D) remains.
11. E Because 7 and 17 are prime and have no common factor greater than 1, their least common multiple will be their product: 7 17 =
119. The least possible value for (a 1), then, is 17, so a = 18; likewise, the least possible value for (b 1) is 7, so b = 8. The least
possible sum for a and b, therefore, is 18 + 8 = 26. Be careful if you selected choice (A): Although Plugging In a value of 1 for both
a and b would yield 0 on both sides of the equation, the problem specifies that the product of a and b be greater than 1.
12. A Plug in values. If a = 5 and c = 1, then b = 20. In that situation Quantity A is larger; eliminate choices (B) and (C). Plug In again to
see if this is always the case. If a = 100 and c = 2, then b = 800. Quantity A is still larger. There isnt anything else you can try that
would change the values, so choice (A) is the best answer.
13. 27 Make a ratio box and fill in what you know: the ratio and the total number of salmon. You then total number of fish in the ratio row,
and find your multiplier in the salmon column. Multiply down to figure out the actual total number of fish, which is 27.
Drill 2
Drill 2
1. A, B, D, and E
Set up your ratio box. The number given is the actual total number of players, so put 24 there. Then start Plugging In the Answers
into your ratio row to see which could work. The ratio of 1:2 in choice (A) would yield a ratio total of 3; this works with a multiplier
of 8, so you know choice (A) works. Choice (B) gives a ratio total of 4, which would work with a multiplier of 6; choice (B) works.
Choice (C), however, gives a ratio total of 5; since 24 isnt a multiple of 5, it would yield a fractional multiplier, and thus fractional
juniors and seniors. Eliminate choice (C). Choices (D) and (E) would work with multipliers of 4 and 3, respectively. Choice (F) yields
a ratio total of 11, which will again yield a fractional multiplier, so eliminate choice (F).
2. Set up a ratio box. Put the recipes original ratio of ingredients in the top row and start with 2 eggs in the actual row. This makes
your multiplier . Fill out the rest of the ratio box to determine the number of cups of butter.
3. B According to the given definition, M is 455.2 422.4 = 32.8, and B is 40.2 18.2 = 22. Round M to 33, and the ratio of M to
B is 33 to 22, which reduces to 3 to 2. Choice (B) is correct.
4. E To simplify this problem, ignore the chart column about the greatest single employee donation and plug in easy values for the
number of employees for each company. Try 15 employees for Company A and 1 employee for Company K: Now you have a total
donation of 15 34.6 = 519 per year from Company A, and a total donation of 104.4 per year from the single employee of
Company K. The ratio is thus 519:104.4, which reduces almost exactly to 5:1, so choice (E) is correct. If you selected choice (A), you
may have solved for the averages rather than the actual amount of the donations; if you selected choice (D), you may have solved for
the period 19801990.
5. C and F Since red is common to the given ratios, youll want to multiply the red:green ratio by 3 so that red is 6 in both. Now you
can put it all together in one ratiored:green:yellow = 6:15:5. More importantly, you can put them in one Ratio Box:
No need to nish the rest of the Ratio Boxyou have all you need. Look for answer choices that are multiples of 26. Only choices (C)
and (F) work.
6. B When you need to compare ratios, think of the ratios as fractions that need common denominators. The value of c in each ratio will
need to become 28, and the other values will need to change accordingly. That will make b:c = 105:28 after multiplying the original
values by 7, and a:c = 12:28 after multiplying the original values by 4. This means a:b = 12:105. Simplify, and you get 4:35.
7. 20 Jenny must complete 3000 gear shafts in 10 hours, which is a rate of 300 gear shafts per hour. Percent change is .
In this case, the difference is 50 and the original is 250, so the percent change is . The question asks for percent
increase, so be sure to enter 20, and not 0.2.
8. B Its an algebra question with numbers for answer choices, so set up your scratch paper to plug in the answers. The answers represent
the number of messages Keith receives from Juan, so label them K, or something similar, and give yourself columns for L, which is K
3, and M, which is 4.5 L. Start with choice (C). If K = 16, then L is a fraction; since you can send a fractional message, eliminate
choice (C)and go ahead and eliminate choice (E), since its also not divisible by 3. Next, try choice (B), since its the middle of the
remaining 3 answer choices. If K = 12, then L = 4 and M = 18. Thats the correct number of messages for Missy, so choice (B) isremaining 3 answer choices. If K = 12, then L = 4 and M = 18. Thats the correct number of messages for Missy, so choice (B) is
correct.
9. A, B, D, and F
For each choice, use a ratio box. The first part of each ratio represents 45 degrees. For choice (A), the multiplier will be 45 divided by
2, or 22.5. The ratio adds up to 8 (2 + 3 + 3), so check that 8 22.5 = 180. It does, so choice (A) works. For choice (B), based on
3 representing 45 degrees, the multiplier is 15. The ratio adds up to 12, and 12 15 = 180, so this choice works as well. Using this
approach, choice (C) does not work: The multiplier is again 15, but 15 15 does not equal 180. Choice (D) works, with a multiplier
of 5: 5 36 = 180. When you test the remaining two choices, neither one produces the 180 degrees you need for the triangle, so
eliminate them.
10. The common element between both proportions is b, so thats what youll want to start with. However, the numerical value of b does
not match from proportion to proportion, so youll essentially want to find a common multiple for both values of b. Both 4 and 6 are
factors of 12, so use 12 as your common multiple. For the first proportion, youll need to double it in order to make b = 12. When
you do so, a = 22. For the second proportion, youll need to triple it to make b = 12. Therefore, c = 9. Now that the two
proportions have the same value for b, you know that a:c equals 22:9, which can be written as a fraction.
11. A As soon as you see variables in the answer choices, set up your scratch paper to Plug In. Start with x = 5, so it takes 1 minute to knit
1 row. Now make y = 2. A scarf 2 feet long means Mariko has to knit 200 rows, which will take 200 minutes; since the problem asks
how many hours it will take, your target answer is . Now plug your values into the answer choices; only choice (A) hits your
target. Choices (C) and (E) are clearly too small, and choice (D) is a fraction, so you may not have to calculate all the choices.
12. B Plug in your own numbers for c and h. Lets say Elier can bake 14 cakes in 2 hours; this makes c = 14 and h = 2. That means he can
bake 7 cakes per hour. At this rate, it will take him 111 hours to bake 777 cakes. Circle 111 as your target number. When you plug in
your values, choices (A) and (D) are way too big. Choices (C) and (E) are way too small. Using your calculator, you can determine that
choice (B) matches.
13. 10 Heres the ratio box you can set up. From the ratio with the granola and the actual ounces of granola provided you can solve for the
multiplier, which is 2.
Multiplying vertically, the number of peanuts is 18. You have 18 = x + 8, so x = 10.