Examine the ratio 14 to 28, also written as 14:28 or 14/28.
Find the greatest common factor. The first step to every factoring problem is to find and remove the GCF from the problem. In this case, the GCF is 14.
Divide both parts of the ratio by the GCF and write the quotients as the new ratio, which is 1:2.
Examine the ratio proportion 36:54 = 16:24.
Factor the GCF out of the first ratio, writing the remainder as the new ratio. The GCF is 18 so 36:54 reduces to 2:3.
Factor the GCF out of the second ratio and write the remainder as the new ratio. The GCF is 8 so 16:24 reduces to 2:3. Because they are equal, the ratios are the same, which is 2:3 = 2:3.
Read the word problem: Jan has a bag with 50 marbles. She has 13 red marbles, 12 blue marbles, 10 yellow marbles and 15 tiger-eye marbles. Write ratios for the following: blue marbles to yellow marbles, tiger-eye marbles to the total marbles and red marbles to blue marbles. Factor the answers to simplest form.
Find the number of blue marbles (12) and the number of yellow marbles (10). Write a ratio comparing those two groups, and it is 12:10. Simplify the ratio by pulling out the GCF -- it is 2 -- and writing the remainder as the simplified ratio 6:5.
Find the number of tiger-eye marbles (15) and the total number of marbles (50). Write a ratio and then factor it to its simplest form, which is 15:50 = 3:10.
Find the amount of red marbles and the number of blue marbles and write a ratio, which is 13:12. This ratio will not factor further because 13 is already in its simplest form.