Proportion or Ratio Problems (I think???)

[gators]

Hello,

I'm looking for guidance on how to solve these two problems below. I think they are proportion or ratio problems, but I am not sure.

1. If 6 pounds of meat feeds 3 people for 5 days, how much meat is required to feed 5 people for 7 days?

2. If a dress that is made out of 1.5 yards of fabric will shorten 2 inches because of the seam, how much would a dress made out of 1 yard of fabric shorten because of the seam?

I appreciate any help and explanation of how to solve these and similar problems!

 

[Quaid]

I'm looking for guidance on how to solve these two problems below. I think they are proportion or ratio problems, but I am not sure.

1. If 6 pounds of meat feeds 3 people for 5 days, how much meat is required to feed 5 people for 7 days?

2. If a dress that is made out of 1.5 yards of fabric will shorten 2 inches because of the seam, how much would a dress made out of 1 yard of fabric shorten because of the seam?

I appreciate any help and explanation of how to solve these and similar problems!

Yes, these look like proportion problems (i.e., one ratio equal to another ratio).

In the first exercise, we assume that each of the 3 people get an identical-sized portion of meat each day.

As Denis hinted, 3 portions of meat handed out each day for 5 days is 15 portions total.

How many portions are needed to feed 5 people for 7 days?


Answer this, and you may then use the ratio "pounds per portion" to express the proportion as "6 pounds per 15 portions is the same as ? pounds per ? portions".

6/15 = ?/?

where the red question mark represents the answer to the red question above.

The black question mark is the number you're trying to find (i.e., the number of pounds of meat needed to feed 5 people for 7 days).

Questions?

Cheers :cool:

PS: If you need a lesson on setting up and solving proportion problems, and you're unable to find one using Google, let us know.

 

[Dale10101]

Hint-a-rama

Hello,

I'm looking for guidance on how to solve these two problems below. I think they are proportion or ratio problems, but I am not sure.

1. If 6 pounds of meat feeds 3 people for 5 days, how much meat is required to feed 5 people for 7 days?

2. If a dress that is made out of 1.5 yards of fabric will shorten 2 inches because of the seam, how much would a dress made out of 1 yard of fabric shorten because of the seam?

I appreciate any help and explanation of how to solve these and similar problems!

If you had 6 lbs of meat that had to last 5 days, how much meat would you reserve for each day and of that amount how much meat would each person receive. If you take that as the amount of meat a person needs per day, how much meat would a packer pack if packer packed meat for 5 people for one day, how about for 7 days?

You are right this is about ratios and proportions, and about thinking about the meaning of things ... not always easy.

About 2. Sometimes it is easier to think about ratios if you phrase them as "so much of x" will get you "so much of y" and then put it in the form of a ratio, like ...

If 1.5 yards of fabric gets you 2 inches of seam then 1 yard of fabric gets you ? inches of seam.

This would translate to 1.5 is to 2 as 1 is to ?, or 1.5/2 is to 1/? or 1.5/2 = 1/? . In a simple case like this you can, if need be, turn the expression on each side of the equal sign on its head to give 2/1.5 = ?/1.