Question

The ratio of boys to girls in a class is 3:5. There are 40 students in the class. How many students are boys?

Answer 1

Answer: There are 15 boys

Explanation:

3 + 5 = 8

3/8*40 = 15

5/8*40=25

15:25

There are 15 boys.

Answer 2

The correct thing to do in this instanceis to take the total number of students (40) and divide them by the total parts of the ratios combined (3:5 so 3+5=8) 40/8 then gives us 5, which lets us know that every unit in the ratio is worth 5 students. Therefore, 3:5 boys:girls means (3*5):(5*5) which gives us 15 boys and 25 girls, nicely adding up to 40

Explanation: