Question

On a cruise of 1125 passengers, 450 were female. What fraction of the passengers were male? Give your answer as a fraction in its lowest terms.

Answer 1

DEFINITIONS:

A fraction is a representation of the part of a whole. It consists of two parts, the numerator, and the denominator.

The numerator is the top part of the fraction; that is the part of the whole.

The denominator is the bottom part; that is the whole.

GIVEN:

There are 1125 passengers.

450 are female.

SOLUTION:

Since there are male and female passengers on the cruise, the number of male passengers will be calculated as:

`1125-450=675`

Therefore, there are 675 males.

Hence, the fraction of males is given as:

`(675)/(1125)`

To simplify, we use the greatest common factor (GCF) to divide both the numerator and the denominator.

If we check the factors of 675 and 1125, we can see that the GCF is 225.

Therefore, the numerator will be:

`675/225=3`

and the denominator will be:

`1125/225=5`

ANSWER:

The fraction of male passengers is 3/5

`(3)/(5)`