Unit 7 L esson 30

O bjective: Ratios and Unit Rates.

In this section, you will be able to work with ratios and find unit rates.

Ratio
The comparison of two numbers.
It is commonly written as a fraction.
It can be written one of three ways.

Writing Ratios 
Let a and b be real numbers and  . 
   Ratios can be written three ways: 
 
1. a to b    2.   a:b    3.     
 
The ratio should always be written in simplest 
form. 

E xample 1 W riting Ratios.

A fisherman catches 6 fish out of his first 15 casts. Write the ratio of , three
ways.

Solution

1. 6 to 15 2. 6:15 3.
3 to 5 3:5

Let us discuss rates. Rates are the comparison of two values, a ratio, that have different units of
measure. A unit rate is a rate that has been simplified so that the denominator is one unit of
measure. A few examples are;
How many miles per gallon (mpg) does your car get?
How many words per minute can you type?
How fast are you driving? M iles per hour (mph)
E xample 2 F inding a unit rate.

You and seven friends go out for dinner. When you add up the bill, including tip and tax, it
comes to $124.65. If all of you split the bill evenly, how much will you have to pay?

Solution

To pay the bill it will cost $15.58 per person.

Sometimes you will have to convert one unit of measure to another, equivalent, unit of measure.

E xample 3 W riting equivalent units of measure.

You and your family are flying to New York City. The airplane is traveling at 540 miles per
hour. How many miles does the plane fly in one minute?

Solution
To convert miles per hour into miles per minute, you have to determine how many minutes are in
an hour. (60 minutes = 1 hour, so )

M ultiply by the fraction that converts hours into minutes

9
= F actor out the common factors and the common units
1

= Simplify

The plane travels 9 miles per minute.