{"id":7849,"date":"2013-06-13T14:19:45","date_gmt":"2013-06-13T14:19:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/testpreparations.com\/help\/?p=3455"},"modified":"2014-12-02T08:27:00","modified_gmt":"2014-12-02T08:27:00","slug":"using-math-proportions-on-the-sat-and-act","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/schooltutoring.com\/help\/using-math-proportions-on-the-sat-and-act\/","title":{"rendered":"Using Math Proportions on the SAT and ACT"},"content":{"rendered":"

Overview:\u00a0 Why Proportions?<\/strong>
\nSolving proportions is an important math skill, both on tests and in everyday life.\u00a0 In addition, understanding proportions is critical in the sciences, as elements exist in varying quantities in compounds and mixtures.\u00a0 Understanding proportions within populations and how they work can also be essential as part of statistical analysis in social sciences.<\/p>\n

Proportions as Ratios<\/strong>
\nProportions are used most simply in problems like ” If c cans of soup can make x cups, how many cans will make y cups?”\u00a0 This can be represented simply as c\/x = n\/y.\u00a0 It can be solved by cross-multiplication, or xn =cy, so n =cy\/x.\u00a0 If the x, y, c, n don’t make much sense, try substitution on the practice problem.\u00a0 If 2 cans of soup can make 6 cups, how many cans will make 9 cups?\u00a0 Then, 2\/6 = n\/9, or 6n = 2(9) or 6n\/6 = 18\/6, or 3.\u00a0 Granted, the problems on the SAT or ACT won’t be that easy, but those that use proportions are extensions of problems like that.<\/p>\n

Proportions as Fractions<\/strong>
\nMost proportion problems are fractions in plain sight.\u00a0 (This includes percentage problems, which are fractions of 100 and can be converted easily to decimals).\u00a0 The numerator can be one expression and the denominator can be another expression.\u00a0 As long as the numerators and denominators match on both sides, they can be cross multiplied and solved like the cans and cups in the ratio problem.<\/p>\n

Proportions in Science Reading Passages<\/strong>
\nMath proportions can also be tested during reading comprehension and on science questions.\u00a0 For example, a reading passage may be presented about the process of photosynthesis.\u00a0 According to the chemical equations for photosynthesis, free oxygen molecules are produced from water and chlorophyll after the action of sunlight.\u00a0 Understanding that the amount of oxygen that is produced is in proportion to the elements before photosynthesis will help with comprehension questions.<\/p>\n

Proportions in Statistics<\/strong>
\nStatistical analysis is used as a tool in most social science research.\u00a0 The essential question in any experiment or collection of data is “Does the data deviate significantly from the expected proportions on some measure?”\u00a0 For example, suppose teachers in high school Algebra II classes in a particular school want to know how their classes this year perform as compared with the previous year.\u00a0 They can record data on students taking a test last year, and compare the proportion of student scores above a certain cutoff on the same test given this year.<\/p>\n

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Test Prep Academy is the premier test prep and private tutoring company for college-bound students. Our highly qualified test prep tutors deliver one-on-one personalized instruction that fit our student\u2019s busy schedule.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Overview:\u00a0 Why Proportions? Solving proportions is an important math skill, both on tests and in everyday life.\u00a0 In addition, understanding proportions is critical in the sciences, as elements exist in varying quantities in compounds and mixtures.\u00a0 Understanding proportions within populations and how they work can also be essential as part of statistical analysis in social […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":2720,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2841,3015,3021,2851],"tags":[694,1432,1494],"class_list":["post-7849","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-act","category-math-act","category-mathematics-sat","category-sat","tag-fractions","tag-proportions","tag-ratios"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/schooltutoring.com\/help\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7849","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/schooltutoring.com\/help\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/schooltutoring.com\/help\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/schooltutoring.com\/help\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/schooltutoring.com\/help\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7849"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/schooltutoring.com\/help\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7849\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/schooltutoring.com\/help\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2720"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/schooltutoring.com\/help\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7849"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/schooltutoring.com\/help\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7849"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/schooltutoring.com\/help\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7849"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}