To the nearest​ millimeter, a cell phone is 105 mm long and 72 mm wide. What is the ratio of the width to the​ length?

Answer 1

Hello, Michael,

The ratio sought is the width (W) to the length (L). I'll write this as W/L.

Since we know W = 72mm and L = 105mm, we can simply divide the two:

W/L = 72mm/105mm

(72mm)/(105mm) = 0.685714 . . . . . . .

We are asked for an answer "To the nearest mm."

This actually doesn't make sense to me, since the mm cancel out - it is a ratio without units. In the spirit of "to the nearest mm," I believe we can round to 0.69. There are only two significant digits in the width (72), so our answer should contain no more than two significant digits, also.

Bob

Answer 2

72/105 = 24/35 = about 0.686/1 width = about 69% of the length