Westonci.ca offers quick and accurate answers to your questions. Join our community and get the insights you need today. Join our Q&A platform to connect with experts dedicated to providing accurate answers to your questions in various fields. Explore comprehensive solutions to your questions from knowledgeable professionals across various fields on our platform.

the ratio of pencils to erasers is 4:1 if there are 20 pencils how many erasers are there

Sagot :

The answer to your question is 5 erasers
Well, think of it like a proportion. Let's say pencils is P and erasers is E. This means, P/E = 4/1. But, you need to find the number of erasers when you have 20 pencils. So, then we put 4/1 = 20/E because without the numbers this means P/E = P/E. From here you can think of this in 2 ways.
1st way:
You can think about what happens to 4 to make it 20. (Or divide 20 by 4.) You should get that 4x5 = 20. So, since it's a proportion, what happens to the top must happen to the bottom. That means you must multiply the bottom by 5 as well to get 5 erasers when there are 20 pencils.
2nd way:
You can cross multiply the proportions. This means, multiply 4xE and 20x1 and set them equal to each other. So, 4E=20. solve for E (or divide 20 by 4) and you get 5. That's the answer because E in this equation equals the new number of erasers when you have 20 pencils.
The answer is 5 erasers.