It says that the ratio they want you to put it in is dogs/students, so dogs are x, and students are y, so if there are 4 students for every dog, 36 students would require 9 dogs
And if the roles were switched it would be students x, dogs y, and there would be 9 students for 36 dogs :D
I would say the details are ''<span>diameter of 2 1/4 inches and a slant height of 5 inches find the lateral area of the cone round to the nearest tenth''</span>