Question

On a hospital ward, there are 16 nurses and 68 patients. Write the nurse: patient ratio in the form of 1:n. Another ward has 18 nurses and 81 patients.

Answer 1

The nurse to patient ratio for the first ward is approximately 1:4.25, meaning each nurse attends to about 4.25 patients. For the second ward, the ratio is 1:4.5, with each nurse attending to 4.5 patients.

Step-by-step explanation:

To calculate the nurse to patient ratio in the form of 1:n for the first hospital ward with 16 nurses and 68 patients, we divide the number of patients by the number of nurses, resulting in a ratio of 1:4.25.

In order to express this ratio as 1:n where n is a whole number, we can convert the decimal to a fraction. However, since the question asks for the form 1:n and not n:1, we cannot simplify it into whole numbers without losing the requested format. Thus, we say that for every 1 nurse, there are approximately 4.25 patients.

For the second ward with 18 nurses and 81 patients, the ratio is calculated as 81 patients ÷ 18 nurses = 4.5 patients per nurse. Therefore, the nurse to patient ratio here can be expressed as 1:4.5, meaning for every 1 nurse, there are 4.5 patients.