“Blasters, we walked into the Larva Den this morning and discovered a bunch of brand-new Larva pals that we had never seen before. As part of our annual Census, we like to keep track of just how many different kinds of larva we have on the ship at any given moment. With this information, we can use ratios to learn interesting facts about our space friends. So just what are ratios? Ratios are statements that tell us how sets of numbers compare. So if we had 3 green larvae and 9 pink larvae, which would give us a ratio of 3:9 larvae, or 1:3 if, we simplify it. That would mean for every green larva aboard our ship, we would have approximately 3 pink larvae!
Now we can put this handy knowledge into use as we conduct our annual Larva Spaceport Census! Using our high-resolution image of the Spaceport’s larva population, count the total number of our little friends. Then, let us break that number down by color. Can you tell us how many we have of each color?
With our scientific data of the ship’s larva population, we can create our very first ratio! Let’s start by making a ratio comparing all of the different colors! Once you have mastered that, make smaller ratios that compare each color with a different color.
Ratios not only help us compare numbers, but they can allow us to better predict outcomes in the future! Say that we returned back to the Larva Den tomorrow morning and discovered that the amount of green larvae had doubled! Using the power of ratios, we can find out approximately how many yellow larvae we might be able to expect to see in the Larva Den as well! To do this, multiply the number of pink larvae by 2.
Were you able to predict how many pink larvae there would be? Use this knowledge of rations to let us know the answer in the comments!
Filed under: Word problems | Tagged: 5th Grade, Larva, Larva Den, Math, Math applications, Monster Mutts, Ratios, Word Problems | Leave a comment »
