Write a Ratio from Amounts

What Is a Ratio?

A ratio is simply a way of comparing two or more quantities.

What Does a Ratio Look Like?

A ratio is just two numbers written with a colon between them,

e.g. 3:5  2:7 etc.

Does the Order Matter?

Yes, absolutely it does!

3:1 is not the same as 1:3, so always take care with the order.

Let's look at ratio in action in an example now.

e.g. I have 4 red balls and 6 blue balls. Write a ratio for the amount of red balls to blue balls.

Look carefully at the question here - we are asked to find 'red balls to blue balls'.

So the ratio we need to use will be expressed as:

Red:Blue

Now we just need to substitute the correct numbers into this ratio:

4:6

While this ratio can be cancelled down, don't worry about that at this point, we will focus on learning how to do this in the Level 2 activity on ratio. 

In this activity, we will create ratios to compare two quantities which have something in common. We will express these ratios in the form a:b, but we will not be simplifying them at this point.