Expert: Pawan Musale - 9/13/2009

Question
QUESTION: I have searched the internet and can not find a site that can help. I need to explain how to work out a ratio using a strategy which can be applied to any ratio. The question asked is-If it takes 10 balls of wool to make 15 hats how many beanies will it take to make 4 hats? I can answer this question by converting the ratio into a fraction but need to learn how to do it using a different strategy. Please remember that I need to learn a strategy to work out any ratio not just the answer to this question. Thank-you for your help.

ANSWER: Dear Rachel,

Thank you for your ratings. But may I know why Clarity is rated as 1 out of 10, Knowledge 6 out of 10 and Politeness 5 out of 10?

I understand that these are your ratings and I cannot have any say in it, but still I feel that there is good clarity in answer and I too think that it is a polite one!

Also I have extended my help even though this question was not asked to me!

Thank you

Regards,
Pawan

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Rachel,

Your question is: If it takes 10 balls of wool to make 15 hats how many beanies will it take to make 4 hats?

I donot understand what this beanies is. Since you want to learn the strategy, I assume it is the same as balls of wool.

So the question I am considering is:

If it takes 10 balls of wool to make 15 hats how many balls will it take to make 4 hats?

For solving such problems, always write the given data in table format as below:

         Balls of wool          Hats
         10          15
         x          4

Write the given information in first row and the information to be found in second row.

So 10 balls of wool are required to make 15 hats.
We have to find how many balls are required to make 4 hats. So we denote it by 'x'.

Now once data is written in table format, cross multiply the table entries and then equate those as:

10 * 4 = x* 15

Solving this,

40/15 = x

This is a simple strategy that I follow to solve such problems.

I believe that this helps you to understand the strategy. Please let me know if you need additional information.

Regards,
Pawan

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Sorry-I rated politeness wrong! It was meant to be 10.
I do not understand by what you mean by the question was not asked to you.

Also sorry about the clarity-I though it was the timeliness rating-which was low because it took over a week (8days) to answer my question

Knowledge is low and clarity would be if I rated it as I do not understand your answer nor think it is particulary effective.

Answer
Rachel,

Probably you had asked this question to some other expert and he/she had rejected it. Today I saw it and immediately answered!

I am sorry if I could not make the answer clear to be understood.

If you think your previous ratings were wrongly entered, then can you please write back to our tech support team to remove it.

You can write to them by clicking on 'Tech support' button or http://www.allexperts.com/user.cgi?m=10&subject=Feedback (if it works).

Thank you and sorry for the inconvenience caused, if any.

Regards,
Pawan