There are 48 students in a school play. The ratio of boys to girls is 5:7. How many boys are in the school play?

Explain how you found your answer.

boys: x gilrs: y
From the text of the task:
{ x + y = 48 → x = 48 − y y x ​ = 7 5 ​ ​
Replacing x:
y 48 − y ​ = 7 5 ​ 7 ( 48 − y ) = 5 y 336 − 7 y = 5 y 12 y = 336 y = 12 336 ​ = 28
So there are 28 girs and 20 boys

Answered by Ryan2 | 2024-06-10

Did you say that the ratio of boys to girls is 5 to 7 ?
Well, then we know that 5 'groups' in the cast are boys, and 7 'groups' are girls. So all together, there are 12 'groups' of students in the play, although we don't know how many a 'group' is.
But wait a second. You said there are 48 all together. So each 'group' must be 48/12 = 4 students.
5 'groups' of boys = 20 boys 7 'groups' of girls = 28 girls
Check:
-- The ratio of 20 to 28 is 5 to 7 . OK
-- 20 + 28 = 48 all together. OK
It all checks out. yay

Answered by AL2006 | 2024-06-10

There are 20 boys in the school play based on the ratio of boys to girls being 5:7. By dividing the total number of students (48) into the parts of the ratio (12), we find that each part is worth 4. Multiplying the boys' part (5) by this value gives us the total number of boys.
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Answered by Ryan2 | 2024-12-23