# Thread: Help! Struggling With Word Problems...

1. ## Help! Struggling With Word Problems...

[Problem 1]

the instructer of an introductory computer course wants to make a wall chart of a computer desktop for her students. To make it as realistic as possible, she would like the desktop icons to be proportional to the size of her 6' x 6' chart. If the icons on her 15" x 15" PC screen are 3/8" x 3/8", how large should they be on her wall chart?

[Problem 2]

In her morning class, the computer teacher has 20 students, 8 of whom are women and 12 of whom are men. If her afternoon class has 30 students, how many of them must be women so that both classes have the same ration of women to men?

[Problem 3]

The instructor has learned that for 30 students in her afternoon class, the ration of students who do not own a computer to those who do is 2 to 1. How many students in the class own thei own computer?

2. I could be wrong, here, but I'm going to go out on a limb and guess that ITT Tech has at least one requirement under the assignment of "Show Your Work". That one thing would be DO some work. Tell me I'm wrong.

Show us your attempts. Let's get a clue where you stand.

3. i can figure it out but i just cant show my work...i use to common sense routine assuming that everyone knows how the answer comes about...but i just dont know how to show how i got my answer

4. Learning useful notation is an important part of the process.

Do you have simple proportions?

If 30% of 50 is 15, what is 30% or 150. A simple proprotion might suggest:

$\displaystyle \frac{15}{50}\;=\;\frac{x}{150}$

Can you solve this for x?

This is perfect for your first problem.

We know the ratio on the screen. It is the same as the ratio on the board.

$\displaystyle \frac{3/8"}{15"}\;=\;\frac{x}{6'}$

Or you may want?

$\displaystyle \frac{3/8"}{15"}\;=\;\frac{x}{72"}$

P.S. Thanks for not being too mad at me for being a little smart alecky.

5. where did u get the 30% of 50 and 30% of 150 from?

and i wasnt mad about u be smart or anything either...i understand where u are comin from

6. Originally Posted by ITTTechstudent
where did u get the 30% of 50 and 30% of 150 from?
I pulled them out of the air. It's just an example. I was hoping for an example to which you could relate, just to demonstrate the notation.

7. Originally Posted by ITTTechstudent
where did u get the 30% of 50 and 30% of 150 from?

and i wasnt mad about u be smart or anything either...i understand where u are comin from
TKHunny was trying to get the basic idea of the proportion across to you, because you need to know how to set up and solve proportions for this part of the problem.

--Chris