Ratio of Apples to Pears to Oranges

Date: 09/13/2002 at 11:22:13
From: Monique
Subject: Ratios

If the ratio of apples to pears to oranges is 7:8:10, how many pears 
are there if the total number of fruits is 500?  

I don't even know where to begin. These ratio questions puzzle me.

Date: 09/13/2002 at 12:07:08
From: Doctor White
Subject: Re: Ratios

Monique -

If you had 7 apples, 8 pears, and 10 oranges, then you would have 25 
fruits. Hence the ratio of apples to pears to oranges would be 7:8:10.

You could create a chart that would eventually find your answer.

     apples      pears       oranges      fruits
       7           8           10           25
      14          16           20           50
      21          24           30           75
      28          32           40          100

...continuing the pattern you can find your answer.

Another method is to set up an equation to find your answers. It 
could look like this:

  7x + 8x + 10x = 500

Now you can solve to find x, which is the constant. Then multiply 
by 7 to find the number of apples, by 8 to find the number of pears, 
and by 10 to find the number of oranges. 

I hope both of these techniques help you to work with the type of 
problem that you are having trouble with. If you need further help 
with this then let me know. Come back to see us soon.     

- Doctor White, The Math Forum
  http://mathforum.org/dr.math/ 

Date: 09/13/2002 at 14:41:30
From: Monique
Subject: Thank you (Ratios)

Thank you Dr. Math.  That was extremely helpful!