If the ratio of girls to boys in a science class is 4 to 3 and there are 16 girls, how many students are total in the class?

To find the total number of students in the class, first examine the ratio of girls to boys, which is given as 4 to 3. This means for every 4 girls, there are 3 boys.

Since we know there are 16 girls, we can set up a proportion based on the ratio. The ratio can be written with a common variable to represent both the girls and boys. Let’s denote the number of girls as (4x) and boys as (3x). According to the problem, we can find (x) by solving the equation:

[

4x = 16

]

From this, we find:

[

x = \frac{16}{4} = 4

]

Now that we have the value of (x), we can determine how many boys are in the class:

[

3x = 3 \times 4 = 12

]

Finally, to find the total number of students in the class, add the number of girls and boys together:

[

16 \text{ (girls)} + 12 \text{ (boys)} = 28 \text{ (total students)}

]

Therefore, the total number of students