Question

Asymphony has 125 musicians. Seventy five of them are women. Which of the following is the ration of the men to the total musicians in the symphony

Answer 1

50:125

Answer 2

What an elegant explanation, UK_IN_US. I am sure that menure has a comprehensive understanding of ratios and their applications to problem solving.

Bravo!

Answer 3

Ok but for real menure let's do this.

Find the ratio of men to members.

This is the problem, boiled down.

Answer 4

We know how many members there are (125) and how many women there are (75).

To find the ratio of men to members\[men/members=\frac{men}{members}=men:members\]

We need to know the number of men.

We can substitute what we know:

\[men/125=\frac{men}{125}=men:125\]

But we do not yet know the number of men.

Answer 5

I beg your pardon.
Divide the number of men (125 (total) minus 75 ( women) = 25) by the total, 125.

Answer 6

Think logically, if men and women compose the orchestra, we can put that into math words by saying

men + women = orchestra

Again, let's substitute what we know.

men + 75 = 125

This is a missing addend problem. Men is being added to 75 to make 125, so how many men are there?

Answer 7

This gives you your ratio.

Answer 8

men + 75 = 125

men = 50

I hope you can figure out how I got 50 men. Either way, let's check.

men + women = orchestra

50 + 75 = 125

125 = 125

It works

So we have everything we need to finish our problem.

Answer 9

\[men/125=\frac{men}{125}=men:125\]men = 50
Let's put it in
\[50/125=\frac{50}{125}=50:125\]

Answer 10

Stamp, you explained it more comprehensively, I'll admit. However, the snide comment was not appreciated. Also, sorry to menure for turning this thread into a minor flaming.