These exercises and activities are for students to use independently of the teacher to practice number properties
- Solve ratio problems.
- Explain why the process of finding equivalent ratios is important when we compare ratios (question 3, exercise 1).
Proportions and Ratios, AP (Stage 8)
- Exercises with answers (PDF or Word)
Prior knowledge
- Explain what a ratio is, and how it relates to a fraction
- Understand the importance of comparing like to like in mathematics
Background
This is a brief activity to support the mixing paint activity. The answers give a brief explanation of why the ratios need to be made equivalent before a comparison is made.
Note that students may come up with other ways of working out which mix gives the stronger colour, for example, 4:5 or 7:11 could be compared as fractions. The first has 4/9 or 44% blue, while the second has 7/18 or 39% blue – but this is getting tricky without a calculator (hint one third is 33.3%, so one eighteenth is about 5.5%).
Comments on the Exercises
Exercise 1
Asks students to show ratios on a number line and then determine the ratio with the highest red component.
Exercise 2
Asks students to determine from pairs of ratios which pair has the most blue, and then question 2 asks which pair has the more orange.