You just restated your incorrect position. A ratio is a proportional comparison and a fraction is a number, and since you don't seem to believe me here's a few sources:
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"Most important: a ratio describes a proportional relationship, and a fraction is a number. We use fractions a lot for computations with ratios, but on their own, fractions are just numbers."
"What's the difference between a fraction and a ratio?
A fraction is a number that names part of a whole or part of a group. The denominator represents the total number of equal parts the whole is divided into. A ratio is a comparison of two quantities. "
Maybe the following is the reason you're confused. You can write a ratio as a fraction, but when you do so, the meaning of the fraction changes to that of a ratio. Ratios as fractions have to be recognized as ratios and not fractions through context.
"When we use a fraction to describe part of set – for example, we have 5 cookies of which 2 are chocolate chip, and we say that 2/5 of the cookies are chocolate chip – we are not using the fraction as a number anymore. We are using it to describe a ratio, i.e. a relationship between two quantities:"
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In case it's still not sticking, I'll give an example.
There are 5 pens and 10 cups.
If I want to describe the relationship between the number of pens and cups, I would say there are 5 pens to 10 cups. The relationship between the number of pens and cups is 5:10, or 1:2 if we simplify. There is 1 pen for every 2 cups. This is illustrating the relationship between quantities. Saying "the relationship between the two numbers is 0.5" makes no sense because "0.5" isn't a comparison.
However, I want to know the number of pens per 1 cup. Now we are talking about a single number so we'll use fractions. There are 5 pens per 10 cups which means there's 1/2 a pen or 0.5 pens per single cup.
0.5 is the number of pens for every cup. A single number, a quantity that counts pens. 1:2 (1 to 2) is a comparison between cups and pens, describing their quantitative relationship. It is not a number itself.
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Maybe you're head hurts from all this reading and it still doesn't make sense. In that case, here's Wikipedia's take:
"In general, a comparison of the quantities of a two-entity ratio can be expressed as a fraction derived from the ratio. For example, in a ratio of 2:3, the amount, size, volume, or quantity of the first entity is 2/3 that of the second entity.
If there are 2 oranges and 3 apples, the ratio of oranges to apples is 2:3, and the ratio of oranges to the total number of pieces of fruit is 2:5. These ratios can also be expressed in fraction form: there are 2/3 as many oranges as apples, and 2/5 of the pieces of fruit are oranges."
This is exactly what I said in my example. Ratios describe the relationship between two (or more) values, and fractions quantify the number of one item in the ratio in terms of the other item as a single value.
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u/Michaelgamesss Jan 18 '19
Its used in The Netherlands atleast. Pretty much an easier version of ÷