Question

The ratio of apples to bananas in a bowl of fruit is 2 to

3. If there are 12 apples in the bowl, then how many
bananas are there?

Answer 1

18 bananas

Explanation:

for every 2 apples, there are 3 bananas.

So, if there are 12 apples then the original ratio of number of apples is being multiplied by 6

To prove this, 2 is the original ratio of apples and when 2 is multiplied by 6, you get 12 apples

To ensure the ratio of apples to bananas is the same, you multiply the original ratio of bananas by 3 as well. This leaves us with 18 bananas for every 12 apples (3*6 = 18)

To check if you are correct, you divide both the number of apples and the number of bananas by 6 and you get the original ratio, 2 to 3.

The ratio is essentially the same throughout except when you increase it by a constant ratio, it is no longer simplified but it is the same.

I tried explaining this the best I could and I really hope this made sense and helped!

Answer 2

We know that the ratio of apples to bananas is 2 to 3, which can also be written as 2/3.

Let's use a proportion to solve for the number of bananas:

2/3 = 12/x

Here, x represents the number of bananas in the bowl.

To solve for x, we can cross-multiply:

2x = 3 * 12

2x = 36

x = 18

Therefore, there are 18 bananas in the bowl.