In mathematics, a ratio is a relationship between two numbers of the same kind (e.g., objects, persons, students, spoonfuls, units of whatever identical dimension), usually expressed as "a to b" or a:b, sometimes expressed arithmetically as a dimensionless quotient of the two that explicitly indicates how many times the first number contains the second (not necessarily an integer).
In layman's terms a ratio represents, simply, for every amount of one thing, how much there is of another thing. For example, supposing one has 8 oranges and 6 lemons in a bowl of fruit, the ratio of oranges to lemons would be 4:3 (which is equivalent to 8:6) and the ratio of lemons to oranges would be would be 3:4. Additionally, the ratio of oranges to the total amount of fruit is 4:7 (equivalent to 8:14). The 4:7 ratio can be further converted to a fraction of 4/7 to represent how much of the fruit is an orange.
Read more about Ratio: Notation and Terminology, History and Etymology, Examples, Number of Terms, Proportions, Reduction, Odds, Different Units
Famous quotes containing the word ratio:
“Personal rights, universally the same, demand a government framed on the ratio of the census: property demands a government framed on the ratio of owners and of owning.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)
“Official dignity tends to increase in inverse ratio to the importance of the country in which the office is held.”
—Aldous Huxley (1894–1963)
“A magazine or a newspaper is a shop. Each is an experiment and represents a new focus, a new ratio between commerce and intellect.”
—John Jay Chapman (1862–1933)