1.

The length of the base of a triangle in terms of x is

and the height of the triangle is

.
What is the area of the triangle in terms of x? Leave your answer in factored form.
Area: ___
2(x +1)(x + 4)
(x +1)(x - 1)
(x +1)(x + 4)
(x +1)(x - 4)
2.The ratio of girls to boys at Maria's school is 2:3, which could either be a good or a bad thing
for Maria, depending on who you ask. If there are 22 girls at Maria's school, how many boys are
there?
The ratio of girls to boys is . It is also

, where x is the number of boys, so

To solve this equation we multiply both sides by 3 and then both sides by x to find 2x = 66. x =
33, so there are 33 boys at Maria's school, and not one of them knows how to treat a lady.
That example was also an instance of a proportion, which is an equation that says two ratios are
equal. It is "pro-equal portions," if you want to think of it that way. If you don't, that's cool, too.
The statement

is a proportion.
5.If

then y is inversely proportional to x with constant 7.

If y is inversely proportional to x, then

1. As the magnitude of x becomes bigger, the magnitude of y becomes smaller.
2. xy is always equal to the constant (if

, then xy is always 7.)

3.If Liana needs $5 to buy 6 pencils, how much money does she need to buy 7 pencils? Also,
what in the world is she doing spending so much for pencils? Were these famous pencils?
We can set this up as a proportion:

where x is the amount of money Liana needs, assuming she hasn't come to her senses and picked
up a $1.49 12-pack from Office Depot.
Multiplying both sides by 7 gives
Since

, Liana would need $5.84 to buy 7 pencils.

Another idea that appears around rational expressions is the idea of proportionality. We say y is
directly proportional to x if
y = (some constant) x
The constant is called the constant of proportionality. Wherever did they come up with that
one?
4.If y = 5x, then y is directly proportional to x with constant of proportionality 5.
If y is directly proportional to x, it means two things. Or at least two things, but these are our
favorites. We have a list somewhere with a ranking of our top four hundred, if you'd like to see it.
1. As the magnitude of x becomes bigger, so does the magnitude of y. If x gets farther from
zero, so does y, since y is x multiplied by something. In other words, x and y are directly
related...which is not to say they don't avoid each other at family functions.
2. The ratio of y to x is always the same. will always be equal to the constant of
proportionality (if y = 5x, then is always 5).