word problem

Question

The residents of a city voted on whether to raise property taxes. The ratio of yes votes to no votes was
4
to
7
. If there were
6727
no votes, what was the total number of votes?

Answer 1

Hi Josh,

 

Let the number of Yes votes be Y.

 

If the ratio of yes to no was 4 to 7, then we can write the proportion

 

4/7 = Y/6727

 

Since we have a fraction equal to a fraction we can "cross multiply" to solve for Y.

 

7Y = 4(6727)

7Y = 26908

Y = 3844

 

So the number of Yes votes is 3844 and the number of No votes is 6727.

The total number of votes is 10571.

 

Hope this helps.