A mathematical comparison of two numbers is a proportion. Such statistics can often be a measure of objects or figures. Say, you have gone to a room full of people, for instance.
You want the number of boys in the room relative to the number of girls. The analogy would be written in a proportion.
By definition, the proportion is a relationship between two quantities, whether it is a direct proportion or an inverse one.
Mathematically, we can say that a proportion is a relation between two ratios. This relation expresses these ratios to be equal in value. Proportion is an important part of our life.
Many things in our everyday life involve proportions, and we don’t even recognize it. Many chemical reactions happen because of the optimum proportions of chemicals involved in the reaction. The air we breathe in is also suitable for us when all the necessary gases are in the right proportion.
We often see proportion in resizing of images in the form of aspect ratio, which is usually 16:9 where 16 is the width of an image and 9 is the height of the picture. Similarly, proportions are pretty much related to finance as well. The income tax we pay is also directly proportional to the average income of a person. There is a fixed percentage of income, which is collected as tax by state. If the income is raised, the tax applied to it would also get higher in terms of money.
People who don’t like mathematics often wonder how to solve a proportion? Proportions calculator can be a handy tool for you in solving proportions if you feel mathematics and algebra are above you. Some people would like to see proportions in term of percentage, percent proportion calculator can be used for this purpose.
Proportions are basically written in two ways. One is representing quantities in fractional form while the other one involves putting a colon ‘:’ between values. We can show a proportion of two values or ratios like this:
a/b = x/y
a:b :: x:y
You can also place a ‘=’ instead of ‘::’ sign in the equation, it depends upon your choice.
Proportions can be calculated using the proportion formula given below:
a/b = x/y
Suppose the value of ‘x’ is unknown. We would apply different mathematical techniques, including cross multiplication, to figure out the value of ‘x’ in the proportional relation. Similarly, if we have two unknown values in a relation, we can use cross multiplication to identify the proportion between both unknown variables. We would see some examples to simplify the concepts and to know how to do proportion.
If we have a proportional relation with one unknown value. We can calculate the unknown value by using some mathematical techniques. This is how to solve proportions:
Suppose the equation is,
72/6 = x/3
We have seen an unknown variable in relation. Therefore, we will try to find out the unknown value in the relation.
72/6 = x/3
Multiplying 6 with both sides we get
72 = 2x
Now dividing both sides with 2,
36 = x or
x = 36
So, the unknown variable in the relation is 36. To check if both the ratios are equal, we put values of all the variable involved in the equation and solve it:
72/6 = 36/3
Solving both sides, we get,
12 = 12
You can use solving proportions calculator to solve the proportions. See the simplified form of proportional relations by adding values to this proportion solver. One value should be unknown and entered as ‘x’, this ratio solver calculator would find out unknown variable and display a simplified form of relation. Proportion calculator would also show the steps to solve the equation. Therefore, this proportion calculator could also be used as a mean to learn proportion solving and as cross multiplication calculator if you are a student.