the ratio of the length of an airplane wing to its width is 8 to 1. If the length of a wing is 32.3. how wide must it be?

Question

the width of the wing is 8 to 1

the length of the wing is 32.3

how wide is it?

Answer 1

Let W=width of wing

 

The ratio (Length/Width) is given and is constant, so you can set ratios equal (this is a proportion):

       Length / Width = 8/1 = 32.3/W

 

The nice thing about equations like these is that you can (1) cross-multiply, (2) invert both sides, multiply both sides by one of the denominators ... any legal operation of algebra in order to isolate W.

 

Let's multiply both sides by  (W/8):

                       W = 32.3/8 = 4.04     (PLZ round; a hundredth of a foot, for example, is pretty small)

Answer 2

Yessi,

 

The best way to solve this is by setting up a proportion.  Since the length to width is stated as 8 to 1, the ratio would be set-up as 8/1=32.3/x.  Set up an equation by multiplying diagonally, so that the equation looks like this:  8x=32.3.

Divide each side by 8 and x=4.0375.  Thus, x is the width.  I hope that this helps!

 

                                                                                                       Regards,

                                                                                                       Don M.

Answer 3

Hi Yessi,

 

The width must be 1/8th the length or we can express it mathematically as L/W = 8/1 or W/L = 1/8

 

W = 1/8*L

= 1/8*32.3

 

= 4.0375 units

 

Best regards,

Gaurav