Question

Sarah bought 5 apples and 8 oranges at the grocery store. Write the ratio of apples to oranges.My attached answer was marked as wrong what was wrong ?

Answer 1

In writing a ratio relation, it is important that we take note of the statement of ratio given in the problem. The statement of ratio says that apples to oranges. Hence, the proper way to write this in ratio form is apples: oranges. If Sarah bought 5 apples and 8 oranges, the ratio of apples to oranges is written as

`5\colon8\approx(5)/(8)`

Explanation for the wrong answer:

The problem with the attached answer is that we didn't follow the ratio statement provided on the problem. It is not necessary that the bigger number comes first. What is important is following the ratio statement given in the problem, which is apples to oranges. If you write it as 8/5. this means that Sarah bought 8 apples to 5 oranges, which is the reverse of what is in the problem.

Answer: 5:8 or 5/8