P6 Mathematics Topical Practice - Ratio

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Example 1: Ratio involving 3 characters

The ratio of the number of marbles that Tim and Gary is 2 : 3. The ratio of the number of
marbles that Gary has to the number of marbles May has is 1 : 4. What is the ratio of the number
of marbles Tim has to what Gary has to what May has?

Tim : Gary : May

2 : 3

1 : 4

2 : 3 : 12 Making common ratio for Gary

1. The ratio of the number of strings that Yurie and Samus is 1 : 3. The ratio of the number of
marbles that Samus has to the number of marbles August has is 2 : 3. What is the ratio of
the number of marbles Yurie has to what Samus has to what August has?

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2. The ratio of the number of stamps that Aloy has to what Bob has is 3 : 4. The ratio of the
number of stamps that Bob has to the number of stamps Calyce has is 3 : 6. If Calyce has
30 more stamps than Aloy, how many stamps do they have in total?

3. The ratio of the number of homework that Richard has to what Greg has is 4 : 9. The ratio
of the number of homework that Greg has to the number of homework Tim has is 6: 11.
If they have 59 homework altogether, what is the number of homework Tim has to do in
order to have the same number of homework left as Richard?

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P6 Mathematics Topical Practice - Ratio

Example 2: Changes in 1 entity only in a ratio

John and David have some marbles in ratio of 4 : 7. When David lost 4 marbles, the ratio became
2 : 3. What is the total number of marbles they have at first?

John : David

Before: 4u : 7u

After: 4u : 7u 4

Given: 2u : 3u

Note that the number of marble that John has remains the same, we make the number of units
that John has as before. 2:3 4:6

4u : 6u

Since 7u 4 = 6u, therefore we can say that u=4

Total number of marbles = (7+4) 4

= 44 marbles

4. Yoshie and Raymond has a number of chess pieces in ratio of 3 : 8. When Raymond
removed 6 chess pieces, they have a ratio of 1 : 2 now. What is the total number of chess
piece that they have altogether in the beginning?

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5. In a fruit stall, there are apples and oranges in ratio of 2: 5 respectively. When opened for
sale, it is found that 30 oranges are rotten. The ratio now becomes 1 : 1. What is the total
number of fruits up for sale?

6. Mary and her father have some collection of stamps in ratio of 2 : 5. In a stamp exhibition,
5 of Marys stamps were lost. The ratio now becomes 7 : 20. How much more stamps
does Marys father have than Mary initially?

7. Pamela and Steven have jigsaw puzzle pieces with a ratio of 4 : 9. When Pamela placed 10
jigsaw pieces into the puzzle, the ratio now becomes 1 : 6. Find the total number of
jigsaw pieces they have to put in now in order to complete the jigsaw puzzle.

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Example 3: Total units remain unchanged

Julie and Ralf has some number of books in ratio of 5 : 3. When Ralf gives Julie 2 books,
the ratio now becomes 3 : 1. What is the total number of books that they have?

Julie : Ralf

Before: 5u : 3u

After: 5u + 2 : 3u 2

Given 3u : 1u

6u : 2u

Therefore, Julie initially has 5u of books and when added 2 more books, the number of
books Julie has is now 6u.

We can say that 5u + 2 = 6u

u=2

8u = 2 8 = 16

8. Jose and Yit has a number of pens in ratio of 3 : 5. When Yit gave 1 pen to Jose, their ratio
is now 2 : 3 . Find the total number of pens they have altogether?

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9. James and Millie both have a number of cards in a ratio of 3: 5. After some discussion,
Millie decided to give 2 cards to James. If the ratio of the number of cards that they have
now is 5 : 7. What is the total number of cards that they have altogether?

10. * Yap, Mint and Soho and has some bags of sweets in ratio of 3 : 6 : 7. When Mint gave
6 sweets to Soho, their ratio of the number of sweets they have becomes 6 : 9 : 17. What
is the difference in the number of sweets Soho and Yap have now?

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P6 Mathematics Topical Practice - Ratio

Example 4: Both entity changes resulting in a change in ratio proportions

The ratio of the number of tickets Tim has to what Peter has is 3: 5. After Tim uses 5 tickets and
Peter uses 3 tickets, the number of tickets that Tim has to Peter has is 1: 3. How many tickets did
they have at first?

Before:

Tim : Peter

3u : 5u

After: 3u 5 : 5u-3 * u stands for units

1u : 3u

To make both side equal ratio 31u : 3u

3 (3u 5) : 5u 1

Therefore we can write 3 (3u 5) = 5u3

(3u 5) + (3u 5) + (3u 5) = 5u3

9u 15 = 5u 3

Since 9u = 5u + 4u, 5u 4u

4u 12 = 0 ( Think 4 ____ 12 = 0 )

Therefore u = 3.

u 3

5u + 3u 3 x 8

8u 24

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11. Mingyi had some number boxes of food and drinks in a ratio of 4 : 5. After selling 6
boxes of food and 5 boxes of drinks in a sale, the ratio of the number of boxes of food to
the number of boxes of drinks becomes 2: 3. What is the total number of boxes he had at
the end of the sale?

12. Robert and Chloe has some pens in ratio of 6 : 7. When Robert lost 2 pens and Chloe
bought another 7 pens, the ratio becomes 2 : 3. What is the total number of pens they
have initially?

13. *A circus has a number of balls, rings and springs in ratio of 5 : 7 : 9. When 17 balls and
4 rings are added while 9 springs are removed, the ratio now becomes 3 : 2 : 1. What is
the total number of items in the circus initially?

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Example 5: Ratio with figures

The figure below shows 2 overlapping circles. The area of the larger
circle to the area of the smaller circle is 5 : 2. Find the ratio of the area
of shaded region to the area of unshaded region.

From the ratio, Let the area of the smaller circle be 2 units.

Let the area of the larger circle be 5 units.

Therefore,

Area of unshaded region = Area of larger circle Area of smaller circle

= 5u 2u

= 3u

Hence, the answer is 2 : 3.

14. The figure below shows 2 overlapping shapes. The area of the larger circle to the area of
the smaller square is 7 : 2. Find the ratio of the area of shaded region to the area of
unshaded region.

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15. The ratio of the area of the rectangle to the area of the triangle to the area of the circle is
2
9: 6 : 5. If the area of shaded region is 3 of the area of the triangle, what is the ratio of the
area of unshaded region to the total area of the figure?

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16. The shaded region covers is 3 of D and 4 of E. If the ratio of the area of E and area of F is
4 : 5, Find the ratio of the area of D to the total unshaded area of the figure.

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