Question

The ratio of boys to girls in Mrs. Reiter’s music class is 2 to 3. There are 24 girls in the class. ​

​What is the total number of students in Mrs. Reiter’s music class?

Answer 1

40 total students

Explanation:

with any ratio, you can look at it like a fraction. 2:3 boys to girls becomes 2/3.

given that there are 24 girls, we can use that number as the denominator of the new fraction, to give us x/24. from here, we need to figure out what number multiplied by 3 (from the original fraction) will give us 24 - we must divide.

24/3 is 8, and so we can back up to the original fraction, 2/3, and multiply the numerator by 8 to give us the numerator for our new fraction.

2•8 is 16, and so our fraction becomes 16/24. add the two numbers together to find the total number of students in the class!