Question

What is the value of x in the proportion below?

1/2 / 4 = x/28

3 1/2
7 1/2
14
56

Answer 1

A 3 1/2

Explanation:

There are a number of ways that you can solve this

Method 1)

Since these proportions are set equal to each other, we know that x is also equivalent to 1/2. So, we need to find the whole-number that was multiplied by the first fraction (1/2/4) that gave us the second fraction (x/28).

So we need to divide the denominators

28/4 = 7

Now that we have that number, we will mutiply 1/2 by it because we know that whatever x is the 1/2 times 7 since 28 is 4*7:

1/2 * 7 = 3.5 or 3 1/2, so 3 1/2 is our answer...

Another way that we can solve this is by using the cross product (butterfly method)

Method 2)

Multiply 28 by 1/2 = 14.

Now we will divide 14 by 4. 14/4 = 3.5

3.5 = 3 1/2, so that is our answer.