Fungicides account for 1/10 of the pesticides used in the US. Insecticides account for 1/4 of all pesticides used in the US. The two ratio of herbicides to insecticides used in the US can be written 1/10 ÷ 1/4 . Write this ratio in simplest form.

see the other post about division is the reciprocal of multiplication.

To simplify the ratio 1/10 ÷ 1/4, we can follow these steps:

Step 1: Understanding the concept:
To divide by a fraction, you can multiply by its reciprocal. The reciprocal of a fraction is found by flipping the numerator and denominator.

Step 2: Finding the reciprocal of 1/4:
The reciprocal of 1/4 is obtained by flipping the numerator and denominator. So, the reciprocal of 1/4 is 4/1.

Step 3: Multiplying by the reciprocal:
Now, we can multiply the ratio 1/10 by the reciprocal 4/1.
(1/10) x (4/1) = (1 x 4) / (10 x 1) = 4/10

Step 4: Simplifying the ratio:
To simplify the ratio 4/10, we can divide both the numerator and denominator by their greatest common divisor (GCD), which is 2.
4 ÷ 2 / 10 ÷ 2 = 2/5

Therefore, the simplified ratio of herbicides to insecticides used in the US is 2/5.