Name ____________________________________ Date ____________________

Proportions

Have you ever seen signs like this? If you have, then you know a little bit about
proportions. Talk with your partner about these pictures and how you think they
have to do with math.

speed limit = 65 miles per hour

red roses = $9.99 per dozen

regular gas = $1.85 per gallon

apples on sale for $1.50 per pound

 1 gallon of milk is $2.49

jelly beans are $1.99 per pound

Now that you are familiar with real life situations that involve proportions, let’s think about
why we need to solve problems with proportions. These are some types of questions that
require us to create a proportion. Have you ever needed to solve a problem like this?

1. If the speed limit is 65 miles per hour and I am driving to Chicago, 195 miles away, how
many hours will I be driving for?

2. I am the boss of my company and it is Valentine’s Day. I have to buy a dozen roses for my
wife, my mother, and all of the ladies that work in my office. There are 7 people I need to
buy a dozen roses for. How much will I spend if the roses are $9.99 a dozen?

3. I just drove past the gas station and saw that gas is $1.85 per gallon. If my gas tank holds
14 gallons of gas, how much will I spend to fill up my tank?

4. Mom and I are going to bake apple pies for the church fundraiser. If I have $5.49 to spend
on apples at the grocery store and apples are on sale for $1.50 per pound, how many
pounds of apples can I buy?

5. We are having a class party and I need to buy milk. A gallon of milk is $3.15 and I need to
buy 3 gallons. How much am I going to spend?

6. Mom gave me $11.94 to spend on jelly beans for Easter. If the jelly beans cost $1.99 per
pound, how many pounds can I buy?
For these types of problems, we need to set up a proportion or a ratio. We can make a table
to organize the information.

Here is a problem to think about as we discuss proportions: If 2 gallons of milk costs $5.40,
how much would 5 gallons cost? What is the general idea to solve this problem?

In proportion problems you have two things that both change at the same rate. The two
things in this problem are gallons and dollars.

You know the dollars and gallons in one situation that the problem gives you (it tells you that
2 gallons costs $5.40), and you want to know the dollar amount of 5 gallons. So you have 3
pieces of information and you have to find the fourth.

1. Start out by organizing your information by listing the categories as a fraction, so

gallons will be the numerator and dollars is the denominator.

2. Now fill in your first fraction, sticking with gallons in the numerator and dollars in the
denominator.

3. Next, figure out what we have to solve for and call that x. We’re trying to find the
cost, so the dollars in the second fraction will be x. The numerator in that second
fraction is going to be a 5 because we want to know how much will 5 gallons cost.

gallons 2 5

dollars 5.40 x

In the example, there are four boxes that numbers will go in and you are given three of
them, and asked to find the fourth. So, how would we solve these types of problems? I need
to build a proportion!

2 5
=
5.40 x

I build a proportion like this one above and solve by cross multiplying. You have two
fractions that are going to be equal. The equal sign represents the fence and each side of
the fence has to be equal.
Now we have to cross multiply and solve to find x. Hey, we’ve learned how to solve for x!

Take the numbers you circled and put an = in between them like this and solve for x. Use
parentheses to show multiplication, so you don’t get confused with the variable x.

(2) (x) = (5.40) (5)

2x = 27

2 2

x = 13.5

Be sure to check that your answer is reasonable by re-reading the problem to see if it makes
sense!
Answer Key from problems on page 2:

1. If the speed limit is 65 miles per hour and I am driving to Chicago, 195 miles away, how
many hours will I be driving for?

3 hours

2. I am the boss of my company and it is Valentine’s Day. I have to buy a dozen roses for my
wife, my mother, and all of the ladies that work in my office. There are 7 people I need to
buy a dozen roses for. How much will I spend if the roses are $9.99 a dozen?

$89.99

3. I just drove past the gas station and saw that gas is $1.85 per gallon. If my gas tank holds
14 gallons of gas, how much will I spend to fill up my tank?

$25.90

4. Mom and I are going to bake apple pies for the church fundraiser. If I have $5.49 to spend
on apples at the grocery store and apples are on sale for $1.50 per pound, how many
pounds of apples can I buy?

3 pounds (if you are only buying whole pounds

(answer is 3.66, but you don’t have enough money for 4 pounds)

5. We are having a class party and I need to buy milk. A gallon of milk is $3.15 and I need to
buy 3 gallons. How much am I going to spend?

$9.45

6. Mom gave me $11.94 to spend on jelly beans for Easter. If the jelly beans cost $1.99 per
pound, how many pounds can I buy?

6 pounds