Lesson 16Two Related Quantities (Part 1)

Learning Goal

Let’s use equations and graphs to describe relationships with ratios.

Learning Targets

  • I can create tables and graphs that show the relationship between two amounts in a given ratio.

  • I can create tables and graphs that show the relationship between two amounts in a given ratio.

Lesson Terms

  • dependent variable
  • independent variable

Warm Up: Which One Would You Choose?

Problem 1

Which one would you choose? Be prepared to explain your reasoning.

  • A 5-pound jug of honey for $15.35

  • Three 1.5-pound jars of honey for $13.05

A picture of a 5-pound jug of honey and three 1.5 pound jars of honey.

Activity 1: Painting the Set

Problem 1

Lin needs to mix a specific color of paint for the set of the school play. The color is a shade of orange that uses 3 parts yellow for every 2 parts red.

  1. Complete the table to show different combinations of red and yellow paint that will make the shade of orange Lin needs.

    cups of red paint

    cups of yellow paint

    total cups of paint

  2. Lin notices that the number of cups of red paint is always of the total number of cups. She writes the equation to describe the relationship. Which is the independent variable? Which is the dependent variable? Explain how you know.

  3. Write an equation that describes the relationship between and where is the independent variable.

  4. Write an equation that describes the relationship between and where is the independent variable.

  5. Use the points in the table to create two graphs that show the relationship between and . Match each relationship to one of the equations you wrote.

    A graph labeled cups of red paint on the x axis with a scale of 0 to 50 counting by 2's. The y axis is cups of yellow paint with a scale of 0 to 48 counting by 3's.
    A graph labeled cups of yellow paint on the x axis with a scale of 0 to 48 counting by 3's. The y axis is cups of red paint with a scale of 0 to 50 counting by 2's.
Print Version

Lin needs to mix a specific shade of orange paint for the set of the school play. The color uses 3 parts yellow for every 2 parts red.

  1. Complete the table to show different combinations of red and yellow paint that will make the shade of orange Lin needs.

    cups of red paint

    cups of yellow paint

    total cups of paint

  2. Lin notices that the number of cups of red paint is always of the total number of cups. She writes the equation to describe the relationship. Which is the independent variable? Which is the dependent variable? Explain how you know.

  3. Write an equation that describes the relationship between and where is the independent variable.

  4. Write an equation that describes the relationship between and where is the independent variable.

  5. Use the points in the table to create two graphs that show the relationship between and . Match each relationship to one of the equations you wrote.

    A graph labeled cups of red paint on the x axis with a scale of 0 to 50 counting by 2's. The y axis is cups of yellow paint with a scale of 0 to 48 counting by 3's.
    A graph labeled cups of yellow paint on the x axis with a scale of 0 to 48 counting by 3's. The y axis is cups of red paint with a scale of 0 to 50 counting by 2's.

Are you ready for more?

Problem 1

A fruit stand sells apples, peaches, and tomatoes. Today, they sold 4 apples for every 5 peaches. They sold 2 peaches for every 3 tomatoes. They sold 132 pieces of fruit in total. How many of each fruit did they sell?

Lesson Summary

Equations are very useful for describing sets of equivalent ratios. Here is an example.

A pie recipe calls for 3 green apples for every 5 red apples. We can create a table to show some equivalent ratios.

green apples (g)

red apples (r)

We can see from the table that is always as large as and that is always as large as . We can write equations to describe the relationship between and .

  • When we know the number of green apples and want to find the number of red apples, we can write: In this equation, if changes, is affected by the change, so we refer to as the independent variable and as the dependent variable.

    We can use this equation with any value of to find . If 270 green apples are used, then or 450 red apples are used.

  • When we know the number of red apples and want to find the number of green apples, we can write: In this equation, if changes, is affected by the change, so we refer to as the independent variable and as the dependent variable.

    We can use this equation with any value of to find . If 275 red apples are used, then or 165 green apples are used.

We can also graph the two equations we wrote to get a visual picture of the relationship between the two quantities.

Two graphs that represent a ratio of two quantities. The graph on the left has a horizontal axis labeled number of green apples and the numbers 1 through 15 are indicated, The vertical axis is labeled number of red apples and the numbers 1 through 20 are indicated. The following four points are indicated on the graph: 3 comma 5, 6 comma 10, 9 comma 15, and 12 comma 20.  The graph on the right has a horizontal axis labeled number of red apples and the numbers 1 through 15 are indicated. The vertical axis is labeled number of green apples and the numbers 1 through 20 are indicated. The following three points are indicated on the graph: 5 comma 3, 10 comma 6, and 15 comma 9.