The ratio of North American Butterflies to South American butterflies at a butterfly park is 7:5. The ratio of South American butterflies to European butterflies is 5:3. There are 105 North American butterflies at the butterfly park.
How many South American butterflies are there?
NA butterflies : SA butterflies = 7:5
SA butterflies : E butterflies = 5:3
so
NA : SA : E = 7 : 5 : 3 = 7x : 5x : 3x
given: 7x = 105
x = 15
So SA butterflies = 5x = 75
SA butterflies was the link between the two ratios, luckily the terms of the ratios were the same
If not, we would have had to find a common term, (similar to finding a LCD)
To find the number of South American butterflies, we need to use the information given in the ratios. Let's start by finding the ratio of North American butterflies to South American butterflies.
The given ratio is 7:5, which means for every 7 North American butterflies, there are 5 South American butterflies.
We know that there are 105 North American butterflies, so we can set up a proportion to find the number of South American butterflies:
(7 North American butterflies) / (5 South American butterflies) = (105 North American butterflies) / (x South American butterflies)
Simplifying the proportion, we have:
7/5 = 105/x
To solve for x, we can cross-multiply and solve for x:
7x = 105 * 5
7x = 525
x = 525 / 7
x = 75
Therefore, there are 75 South American butterflies at the butterfly park.