A tape diagram, also known as a bar model, is a pictorial representation of ratios. In mathematics education, it is used to solve word problems. So lets do this problem that has been gave to us by teachers all around. A boy has won 15 games, for every 3 games that he wins, he loses 2, how many games has the little boy lost?
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Example
A math problem reads: A boy has won 15 games. His ratio for him is 3:2. The tape diagram would look something like this:
How does the tape diagram work.
The tape diagram works by showing different ratios. In the example before it shows how a boy has won 15 games. So if his win to loss ratio is 3:2 it would look like this. How many games has he lost?
Now how did you get those three 5s you ask. Well if his ratio is 3:2 and he won 15. You would do 15/3=5, so you would put a five in each square. Now with tape diagrams ever box should have the same number in each box. So it would look like this.
So the answer to how many games did he lose is 10. Because 5+5=10