Describe what makes a proportion. Give an example of a proportion.
(Completely original and like an 8th grader would write it)
A proportion is when you have two ratios that are equal to each other. It's like saying two things are the same size even though they might be different numbers.
For example, if you have a recipe that calls for 2 cups of flour and 4 eggs, you can say that 2/4 is the same as 1/2 because they are equal. So that's a proportion!
Can you make the explanation longer please?
Sure thing! A proportion is a mathematical concept that shows the relationship between two ratios. Ratios compare two quantities or numbers by dividing them. In a proportion, these ratios are set equal to each other, so they have the same value. This means that if you increase one number in a ratio, the other number must also increase, or if you decrease one number, the other number must decrease in the same way to maintain the proportion.
Proportions are used in various real-life situations, such as cooking recipes, scale drawings, and determining equivalent fractions. They help us understand the relative sizes of different quantities and how they are related to each other.
For example, let's say you have a road map where 1 inch represents 50 miles. You can set up a proportion to find out how many miles 2.5 inches on the map represents in real life. By setting the ratios of inches to miles equal to each other, you can solve for the missing value:
1 inch / 50 miles = 2.5 inches / x miles
Cross-multiplying gives you:
1 * x = 50 * 2.5
x = 125 miles
So, 2.5 inches on the map represents 125 miles in real life, maintaining the proportion between the two ratios.