Proportion

What is a Proportion?

A proportion is a statement or equation that tells us that two ratios or fractions are equivalent. Proportion is a comparison between two numbers, things or people.

For example, you want to know the number of boys there are in comparison to the number of girls in a room. This comparison is written in the form of a proportion. This can be written in the colon or you can write the proportion in the form of an equivalent fraction as follows:

5:10 or \( \frac{5}{10} =\frac{1}{2} \) are equivalent fractions.

Since \( \frac{5}{10} =\frac{1}{2}\\ \scriptsize cross \; multiply \\ \scriptsize 5 \; \times \; 2 =1 \; \times \; 10\\ \scriptsize 10 = 10 \)

Therefore, they are equivalent fractions.

There are two types:

1. Direct proportion

2. Indirect (inverse) proportion