Rational expressions, or fractions, as we often hear them called, can
also be called ratios. When you have two ratios equal to one
another, this is called a proportion. Proportions can be used to
solve a number of different types of situations or problems. I
often use proportions in my daily life, for instance, I was just on a
vacation to the Redwoods of California. I can think of three instances
of the top of my head where I used proportions. 1) Modifying my
family’s spaghetti sauce recipe for just two people, 2) calculating the
cost of the gas needed for the road trip, and 3) estimating the amazing
tall Redwood using our height, shadow length and similar
triangles!

1) Consider your everyday activities and think of a situation in which
you have or could use proportions.

2) Pretend that you are explaining this situation to your friend or
spouse. Provide some specific numbers and walk-through the
process of solving the proportion for the unknown quantity. Be
sure to explain why you do each step!