Question

There are 77 students in the student council. The ratio of girls to boys 7:4. How many girls are there? What is the ratio of girls to students?

Answer 1

There are 49 girls and 28 boys. There are 77 total students as stated in the question and 49 so the ratio of girls students is 49:77. However this is not simplified so to do so you need to find the LCM (Lowest common multiple) list the multiples and you will find the lowest is 7 so the new ratio is 9:11.

Answer 2

Start by increasing the ratio of girls to boys.

Ex. Multiply 7 by 2, and multiply 4 by 2.
7:4 will equal 14:8.

If you multiply the numerator by a number, you must multiply the denominator by that same number in order to keep the ratio proportional. Thus, 14:8 is just a non-simplified version of 7:4. but it's the same ratio.

Keep increasing the numbers until you reach 7. Or, you could just do it immediately.
Ex. Multiply 7 by 7, and multiply 7 by 4.
7:4 will equal 49:28.

Thus, there are 49 girls and 28 boys, as said in the question. So, that answers the first part of the question, but in order to write a ratio of girls to students, we simply put the number of girls, 49, in front of the number of total students in the council, 77.

You will get 49:77 as the ratio of girls to students.