If five of the taxpayers' scheduled cases were completed successfully, what would the ratio be for taxpayers helped successfully to all taxpayers that were helped?
Answer (2)
The ratio of taxpayers helped successfully to all taxpayers that were helped is 4 1 . This means that for every 4 taxpayers helped, 1 was helped successfully. Thus, the simplified ratio is 1:4.
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Calculate the total number of taxpayers scheduled: 2 + 4 + 5 + 2 + 4 + 3 = 20 .
Identify the number of taxpayers helped successfully: 5 .
Calculate the ratio of taxpayers helped successfully to all taxpayers that were helped: 20 5 .
Simplify the ratio: 20 5 = 4 1 .
Explanation
Find the total number of taxpayers helped First, we need to determine the total number of taxpayers that were helped. From the table, we can see the number of taxpayers scheduled for each time slot on Monday and Tuesday.
Calculate taxpayers scheduled on Monday On Monday, there were 2 + 4 + 5 = 11 taxpayers scheduled.
Calculate taxpayers scheduled on Tuesday On Tuesday, there were 2 + 4 + 3 = 9 taxpayers scheduled.
Calculate the total number of taxpayers scheduled Therefore, the total number of taxpayers scheduled (helped) is 11 + 9 = 20.
Identify the number of taxpayers helped successfully We are given that 5 of the taxpayers' cases were completed successfully.
Set up the ratio We need to find the ratio of taxpayers helped successfully to all taxpayers that were helped. This is the ratio of 5 to 20, which can be written as 20 5 .
Simplify the ratio To simplify the ratio, we can divide both the numerator and the denominator by their greatest common divisor, which is 5. So, 20 5 = 20 ÷ 5 5 ÷ 5 = 4 1 .
State the final ratio Therefore, the ratio of taxpayers helped successfully to all taxpayers that were helped is 4 1 , which can also be written as 1:4.
Examples
Understanding ratios is useful in many real-life situations. For example, if you're baking a cake and the recipe calls for a specific ratio of flour to sugar, knowing how to work with ratios ensures your cake turns out delicious. Similarly, in business, ratios are used to analyze financial performance, such as the ratio of profits to expenses.
