Question

The ratio of the number of pencils to pens is 5 : 7. There are m pens. Express the number of pencils in terms of me

Answer 1

how many pencils because you multiply the # of pencils by 7 to get how many pens you have

Answer 2

You could write and solve an equation of ratios:

 5      p
-- = ----
7      m

We are interest in the # of pencils, so solve this equation for p:
                           5m
5m = 7p, or p = -------    This is p "in terms of m."
                             7