Question

How are ratios different from fractions?

Answer 1

Hint: Ratios are something we use to compare certain things for example the ratio of the weight of A and B is 2:3. That means if the weight of A is $2x$ then the weight of B is $3x$ where x is any constant. Fractions are types of real numbers which are not an irrational number and have a numerator and denominator. Fractions are not used to compare things.

Complete step-by-step solution:
The main difference between ratio and fraction is ratios are not any type of numbers whereas fractions are. Fractions can be represented in a number line. A fraction can perform any arithmetic operation such as addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division but we can not perform any of these in ratios because ratios are not a type of number it is a just concept for linear comparison between 2 or more things.
Another difference is the format of writing we write ratios in $a:b$ and fractions in $\dfrac{a}{b}$
When we write $a:b$ that means we are comparing 2 things if one is $ax$ then the other one is $bx$ in the other way when we write $\dfrac{a}{b}$ that simply represents a fraction number. Sometimes we write ratios in the format of fraction for example the ratio of marks of X to marks of Y is $\dfrac{a}{b}$ but we mention before we wrote in fraction format. Otherwise, it will be just a number.

Note: Fractions can have units as these are numbers but ratios can’t have units. We can say$\dfrac{1}{2}m$ length but we can’t say $1:2$ m length. Sometimes we write ratios in fraction format, but we don’t write the fraction in a ratio format. In the end, fractions are numbers we can represent in a number line but ratio it is just a concept of comparison.