18.1 Ratio and Proportion
Ratio • Proportion
In order to develop the meaning of variation, we now review and expand our discussion of ratio and proportion. First, from Chapter 1, recall that the quotient a/b is the ratio of a to b. Therefore, a fraction is a ratio.
A measurement is the ratio of the measured magnitude to an accepted unit of measurement. For example, measuring the length of an object as 5 cm means it is five times as long as the accepted unit of length, the centimeter. Other examples of ratios are density (weight/volume), relative density (density of object/density of water), and pressure (force/area). Thus, ratios compare quantities of the same kind (for example, the trigonometric ratios) or express the division of magnitudes ...
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