Puppies and Kittens: Understanding Dollar Sales Ratios

When it comes to making sense of puppy and kitten sales at a pet store, the math might seem a little ruff at first—but hang on! We're going to break it down step-by-step, so you can understand how to calculate the dollar sales ratios of these adorable furballs.

Now, imagine you’re in the pet store. You see 6 puppies—each priced at $104—and 12 kittens available for a meager $24 each. Of course, you know these little cuties aren’t staying put forever, right? So, before we dive in, let's paint the picture a little clearer.

The Original Sales Landscape

Initially, let’s calculate the potential sales from all those puppies and kittens. For the puppies:

• Total potential sales from puppies = 6 puppies × $104 = $624.

And for the kittens:

• Total potential sales from kittens = 12 kittens × $24 = $288.

Now, are you with me so far? Cool! So, we have a total of $624 expected from puppies and $288 from kittens. Altogether, they add up to $912, which sounds fantastic, doesn’t it?

What’s Left on the Shelf?

Now, let’s fast forward to today. Only 2 puppies and 8 kittens are left in the store. Basically, those sales have been flying off the shelves!

So, the sales calculations for the remaining pets are as follows:

• Sales from remaining puppies = 2 puppies × $104 = $208.
• Sales from remaining kittens = 8 kittens × $24 = $192.

If only those two puppies and eight kittens were the only ones sold, our numbers change quite a bit. It’s essential to look at what has already been sold to get a clear picture of the sales ratio.

Total Sales Breakdown

To find out how much has been made in total sales, we’ll have to subtract the sales from the remaining pets from the initial potential sales:

• Total sales from puppies sold = $624 - $208 = $416.
• Total sales from kittens sold = $288 - $192 = $96.

Okay, take a deep breath. We are almost there!

Let’s Get to the Ratio

Now, we want to find that golden ratio of sales of puppies to kittens. So, the sales for puppies is $416 and for kittens is $96. Next, we can put these numbers into a ratio format:

Ratio = Total sales from puppies : Total sales from kittens = 416 : 96.

If we simplify this beast a bit, we can see both sides can be reduced by dividing each by 16, leading us to:

• Ratio = 26 : 6 (after reducing)

Now, we can pretty this up by simplifying it down 13 : 3.

Final Answer

So, the correct answer to the question regarding the dollar sales ratio of puppies to kittens is indeed 13 to 3!

This exercise not only sharpens your math skills but also provides a real-world application. Ratios and understanding sales can serve you well in various scenarios, particularly in business and finance—you never know when these skills can come in handy!

As we wrap up, remember, every time you're faced with a swath of numbers—like in real-life situations such as shopping, budgeting, or math tests—you’ve got the skills to analyze and conquer those challenges. Keep practicing, and before you know it, you'll be a math whiz, no question about it!