Question

The ratio of North American butterflies to South American butterflies at the Butterfly Park is 6:5. The ratio of South American butterflies to European butterflies is 5:3. There are 90 North American butterflies at the Butterfly Park. How many South American butterflies are there?

a) 75
b) 100
c) 45
d) 54

Answer 1

Using the given ratio of 6:5 for North American to South American butterflies and the fact that there are 90 North American butterflies, we can determine that there are 75 South American butterflies in the Butterfly Park, which corresponds to option a) 75.

Step-by-step explanation:

The question you've asked involves a problem of ratios and proportions, which falls under the subject of Mathematics, more specifically, dealing with ratio and proportion computation. Given the ratios of North American butterflies to South American butterflies, and South American butterflies to European butterflies, and the actual number of North American butterflies in a Butterfly Park, we need to find the number of South American butterflies.

According to the given information, the ratio of North American butterflies to South American butterflies is 6:5. Since there are 90 North American butterflies, we can set up a proportion to find the number of South American butterflies. Using the units-per-unit value method, we can calculate that if 6 units represent 90 butterflies, then 1 unit would represent 90 divided by 6, which is 15 butterflies. Therefore, 5 units would represent 15 multiplied by 5, which gives us 75 South American butterflies.

Thus, for every 6 North American butterflies, there are 5 South American butterflies. When we calculate this proportion with the actual number of North American butterflies, which is 90, the correct option for the number of South American butterflies is option a) 75.