Quandaries
and Queries
My name is Alexa.
I am a freshman student at high school.
Level of question- 6-9
What are some jobs relating to the topics of ratios and proportions other than architects and map makers?
Thank you for your help in advance.
Hi Alexa,
Nursing is an interesting example. When computing a drug dose, for many drugs, we need a certain amount of the drug as a proportion of the body weight. You often start with a drug which is a certain proportion of the liquid (parts per ml).
So the problem is to convert that into the right number of ml for a person of a given weight. It is very important not to 'slip a decimal place' and give someone 10 times too much (big side effects) or 1/10 of the right dose (no impact on the problem). These calculations are so important that nurses have their own techniques to do the problems step by step, so they know they have the 'right proportion'.
Walter