x_mystery's advice column

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advice

Hey guys,
I was hoping someone could help me with this math problem. I should probably remember how to do this stuff, but I'm stupid so I don't know how. If someone can, please explain how to do it. I would really appreciate it! Thank you so much!

Math Problem: The ratio of good guys to bad guys was 16 to 3. If there were 48 bad guys, how many good guys were there?

Thanks again!

If I were going to solve this problem, I would create a proportion.

Okay, so you always have Good on top, and Bad on bottom. So you make your first given ratio like this:

16
-
3 (16 over 3) So its 16 good guys to three bad guys.

Then you would set up another proportion for the ratio that is partly given.

48
-
x (48 bad guys over x amount (unknown) of good guys)

Then you cross multiply.

16 x 48
- -
3 x 16 times X = 16x
3 times 48 = 144

Then you can set it up like this, to further solve.

16x = 144

To get the variable (x) alone, you have to divide both sides by 16.

16x divided by 16 is x.

144 divided by 16 is 9.

Therefore, x=9.

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(Rating: 5) Thank you!

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