If there are 80 head of cattle in the field and the ratio of dairy cattle to beef cattle is 1 to 3 How many dairy cattle and beef cattle are there?

Answer 1

So with 80 head of cattle, we have a 1:3 ratio of dairy to beef, respectively. That translates to: for every head of dairy cattle there are three beef cattle. Since, mathematically, 80 total head of cattle with a 1:3 ratio don't really work out to nice, round numbers, we will have to work with fractions and such.

1:3 ratio can be converted to a fraction: 1/3. 1/3=0.3333333...

So, with 80 head of cattle, we find the number of dairy cattle:

80 x (1/3) = 26.66666666.... Which we could round off to 26 dairy cattle.

Since we have 80 total head, we subtract to find how many beef cattle are in the herd:

80 - 26 = 54.

So the answer is thus: If there are 80 head of cattle, and the ratio of dairy to beef cattle is 1:3, then there are 26 dairy cattle and 54 beef cattle.