Steve, Elizabeth, and Andy decide to become partners in a janitorial service company. They need $140,000 for the franchise. They invest 3:5:8 ratio, respectively. About what percent of the business is owned by Steve?

18.75%

Step-by-step explanation:

We don't need to figure out how much each person needs, in dollars.

Rather, we can use the ratio to figure this out quickly.

The ratio of Steve, Elizabeth, and Andy is:

3:5:8

Ratio is parts, so in total there are:

3 + 5 + 8 = 16 parts

Out of which Steve will invest on "3" parts, so Steve will own 3 out of 16 parts in the business. This is our answer.

But we need the percentage, and percentage can be found by dividing and then multiplying the answer by 100. Lets do this:

3/16 = 0.1875

0.1875 * 100 = 18.75%

Steve owns 18.75% of the business