Ratios and proportions

Question

Sandy’s orchid has only apple trees and pear trees and she is wanting to add some avocado trees. Currently, there are 4 apple trees for every 3 pear trees. She is wanting to plant enough avocado trees so that she has 2 avocado trees for every 5 pear trees in the orchard. Sandy is planting avocado trees, making the ratio of avocado trees to apple trees be

Answer 1

Hi Roxanna L.,

The easiest way to do this sort of thing is to multiply your ratios, i.e. go from 4:3:0 apples:pears:avocados to a higher multiple, such as 20:15:0 . Now you should be easily able to figure out the avocados necessary to get the latter two numbers into the ratio 5:2 , right? How about 15:6? Now you just need to work back from 20:6 apples:avocados to the lowest possible terms, namely, 3:10 avocados:apples. You might see the phrase "least common multiple" dancing before your math brain, right?

Now for some "cold water": pears and apples are temperate-zone fruits (for the most part; some apples can be grown tropically) -- it has to do with setting the bloom buds for the next year, which normally requires a certain amount of chill (chill-degree-days). Avocados, now, are subtropical or tropical -- frost will nip their growth right quick. And in addition, you have "A" and "B" type male/female flower synchronization types (has to do with cultivars), as well as three, I think, separate incompatible fruit-types (termed "races", not species) for avocados.

Take it from me, Sandy has her work cut out for her! Why doesn't she plant some Chinese jujubes instead, they do well in temperate zones, and have a delicious fruit. Or paw paws, if she just has to have a great tropical-tasting fruit, with unsaturated fat content?

-- Cheers, -- Mr. d.