It was recently estimated that females outnumber males by about three to two. If there are 1540 people in a county, how many of them are females?

Question

Lesson: 4.2 Ratios

Answer 1

Hi Dmetrius,

 

This question asks you to setup ratios.  Let's break down the question.

 

1) females outnumber males by about three to two - How would you write this in math form?  In ratios, this is written as female:male = 3:2.  What this means is that for randomly selected 5 people, the chances are that 3 are females and 2 males.

 

We can easily convert ratios into fractions by writing the 'part over whole'; that is, 'part/whole'.  In this case, the 'parts' are 3 females and 2 males; the 'whole' is (3+2)=5 people.  So, the fraction of females will be 3/5 and the fraction of males will be 2/5.

 

2) If there are 1540 people in a county, how many of them are females?

If there are a total of 1540 people, the total number of females will be

(1540 people)(3 females/5 people) = 924 females.

 

Hope this helps!