Final answer:
To maintain the preferred ratio of three customers per teller, divide the number of customers (9) by the ratio (3), resulting in 3 tellers needed for nine customers. Thus, the bank should have three tellers available to serve the nine customers in order to keep the preferred 3:1 customer to teller ratio.
Step-by-step explanation:
The student's question requires an application of the concept of ratios.
In order to maintain a ratio of three customers to one teller, we need to divide the number of customers by three. For nine customers, we have:
Number of tellers = Number of customers ÷ Ratio of customers to tellers
Number of tellers = 9 ÷ 3
Number of tellers = 3 tellers
Thus, the bank should have three tellers available to serve the nine customers in order to keep the preferred 3:1 customer to teller ratio.