How am i supposed to know why the variable(x in this case) goes on the top or bottom of the fraction? like from this question. i am confused.
because of slumping sales, a small company had to lay off some of its employees. the ratio of total employees to employees laid off is 5 to 1. find the total number of employees if 22 employees were laid off? how would i know?

see explanation

Step-by-step explanation:

When constructing the ratio to solve, let x be the quantity to be found.

In this case the total number of employees

The 1 part of the ratio represents employees laid off, that is 22

The 5 part of the ratio represents total employees

The x and 5 go together, either on the numerator or denominator

=

5 and x both on numerator

OR

=

5 and x both on denominator

Both will lead to the same answer

= ( cross- multiply )

x = 5 × 22 = 110 ← total number of employees

= ( cross- multiply )

x = 5 × 22 = 110 ← total number of employees

x=half

step-by-step explanation: