If a company employs two office assistants for every nine architects (a staffing ratio of 2:9) and it plans to expand and hire eighteen new architects, how many new office assistants will it need to hire?

4

Explanation:

Given:

A company employs two office assistants for every nine architects and

ratio is given = 2:9

Question asked:

How many new office assistants will it need to hire as it plans to hire eighteen new architects = ?

Solution:

Let ratio of new office assistants =

Ratio of two office assistants for every nine architects = 2:9

By using formula of ratio and proportion:

Ratio of two office assistants for every nine architects : :  ratio of new office assistants for eighteen new architects,

2 : 9 : : : 18

By cross multiplication,

Dividing both side by 9,

Thus, 4 new office assistants will it need to hire.