Question

A science class has a ratio of 3 boys and 2 girls. Can there be 24 students in the class?

Answer 1

Answer:

Let 3x be the number of boys

Let 2x be the number of girls

3x + 2x = 24

5x = 24

x = 4.8

3(4.8) = 14.4 boys

2(4.8) = 9.6 girls

There can't be 24 students for a ratio of 3 boys and 2 girls, because there can't be 14.4 boys and 9.6 girls, it has to be an exact number, otherwise it wouldn't make any sense.

For example, you and I are both 1 person, we can't be half a person or 0.6 of a person, only 1.

Answer 2

To solve this problem, you can use a Ratio Box (screenshot attached).

Plug in the value of the Ratios at the top. Since the Ratio is 3:2 add those numbers together to get 5.

From there you will want to figure out what the multiplier is in order to get the actual number of boys and girls in the class according to the ratio. Since we know that there are 24 students total, divide 24 by 5. 24 ÷ 5 = 4.8, which becomes your multiplier.

In order to get the actual number of Boys and Girls in the class according to the ratio of 3:2, multiply 3 × 4.8 and 2 × 4.8 to get 14.4 Boys, and 9.6 Girls respectively.

Since you cannot have fractions of a person, you can't have 24 students in the class per this 3:2 ratio.