asked 19.7k views
4 votes
The fraction of men in a population who are married is 2/3. The fraction of women in the population who are married is 3/5. What fraction of the population is single?

plz show work!!

asked
User MetaEd
by
7.1k points

1 Answer

2 votes

Answer:

7/19 of the population is single

Explanation:

First of all, we must make some assumption about the number of married men versus the number of married women. Here, we will assume they are the same number. (Either men are married to women, or the number of gay male marriages is the same as the number of gay female mariages, or both.)

Let m and w represent the numbers of men and women in the population. Then our assumption (above) tells us ...

2/3m = 3/5w

Multiplying by 5/3, we get

w = 10/9m

So, the fraction of the population that is single is ...

(unmarried men + unmarried women)/(men + women)

((1 -2/3)m + (1 -3/5)w) / (m + w)

= (1/3m + 2/5(10/9m) / (m + 10/9m)

= (3/9 + 4/9) / (19/9) . . . . . let m cancel, simplify fractions a bit

= 7/19 . . . . fraction that is single

answered
User Brandon Ling
by
7.1k points

No related questions found

Welcome to Qamnty — a place to ask, share, and grow together. Join our community and get real answers from real people.