Firefighter Practice Exam

How can the conversion of 1 yard to 16 inches be expressed as a ratio?

1. 1.33:16

2. 1.33:1.5

3. 3:1

4. 1:3

The correct answer is: 3:1

To understand why the conversion of 1 yard to 16 inches can be expressed as a ratio of 3:1, it’s important to establish the relationship between these two measurements. First, we need to recall that 1 yard is equivalent to 36 inches. Therefore, if we express this in terms of a ratio comparing yards to inches, we compare the number of yards to the number of inches after converting yards to inches. When converting 1 yard to inches, you have: 1 yard = 36 inches. To express this change as a ratio, we can write it as: 1 yard: 36 inches. To simplify this ratio, we can divide both sides by 12, which gives us: (1 yard / 12) : (36 inches / 12) = 1:3. This result shows that for every 1 yard, there are 3 equivalent units when looking at this in the context of inches. Therefore, the ratio of yards to inches in this case is accurately represented as 3:1. This clear conversion and comparison allow us to understand why the correct answer is 3:1.