Question

Gregory keeps school supplies in his locker. He has 24 pencils and 16 erasers. What is the ratio of erasers to pencils in his locker?

Answer 1

16 : 24 (1 : 1.5)

for simplyfication we need to make the number of erasers 1 so we need to divide 16 by 16 and we also need to divide 24 by 16 which is 1.5 and the simplyfied answer would be 1 : 1.5 I hope this helps.

Answer 2

Since you know you have 16 erasers and 24 pencils, the first thing you should do is put it in to an actual ratio, like so:
16:24
Now that you have a ratio, you need to simplify it. It is very similar to simplifying fractions. You can start by dividing by 2, which gives you:
8:12
And by two again:
4:6
And again:
2:3
So you now know that Gregory’s ratio of erasers to pencils in his locker is 2:3!!
You could also divide 16:24 by 8 which gives you the answer quicker, but I find it easier to break it down in smaller, more manageable chunks. It’s all in finding a common multiple and making the ratio the smallest whole numbers possible :)