To make a proportion, you need to have two or more quantities that are related to each other in a specific way. For example, let’s say you want to find out what percentage of your income is spent on housing. You would need to know your total income and the amount you spend on housing each month. Once you have these two quantities, you can create a proportion to find the percentage.
To make a proportion, you start by setting up a fraction that compares the two quantities. In our example, the fraction would be:
Amount spent on housing / Total income
Next, you need to simplify this fraction so that it is in its simplest form. To do this, you need to divide both the numerator and the denominator by a common factor. In our example, let’s say we divide both numbers by 1000 to simplify the fraction. This gives us:
Amount spent on housing / Total income = X / 100
where X is the percentage we want to find.
To for X, we use cross-multiplication. This means multiplying both sides of the equation by 100 to eliminate the fraction on the right side. This gives us:
Amount spent on housing / Total income = X / 100
100( Amount spent on housing / Total income ) = X
Now we can simplify the left side of the equation by multiplying 100 to the numerator. This gives us:
100 * Amount spent on housing / Total income = X
Finally, we can solve for X by plugging in the values we know. So, if we spend $1200 on housing per month and our total income is $4000 per month, we can calculate the percentage by:
100 * $1200 / $4000 = 30%
Therefore, we spend 30% of our income on housing.
In summary, making a proportion involves setting up a fraction that compares two or more quantities, simplifying the fraction, and then using cross-multiplication to solve for the unknown. Proportions are useful for solving problems related to percentages, fractions, and ratios, and they are essential tools in mathematics and science. By understanding how to make a proportion, you can gain a deeper understanding of how different quantities are related to one another, and make more informed decisions based on this knowledge.