Question

The ratio of oblong tables to round tables at a conference is 3:5. The total number of tables at the conference is 72. How many of each type are there? There are ? Oblong tables and ? Round tables. Solve for both question marks.

Answer 1

Since the ratio of the oblong tables to round tables is 3: 5

Since the total number of tables is 72

Let us find the sum of the ratios and equate it by 72

$\begin{gathered} 3x+5x=72 \\ 8x=72 \end{gathered}$

Let us divide both sides by 8 to find the value of x, which is the number of units in each type

$\begin{gathered} \frac{8x}{8}=\frac{72}{8} \\ x=9 \end{gathered}$

Now multiply 9 by each term of the ratio to find the number of each type

$\begin{gathered} 3\times9=27 \\ 5\times9=45 \end{gathered}$

There are 27 oblong tables

There are 45 round tables