# How to Reduce Proportions

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Reducing proportions can be accomplished easily enough using a few very specific tips. Learn how to reduce proportions with help from a high school math tutor in this free video clip.

Part of the Video Series: Solving Math Problems

## Video Transcript

Hi, I'm Charlie Kasov. I'm a math teacher and today we're going to learn how to reduce proportions. Now first there's two types of proportions. There's a direct proportion and an inverse proportion. Now a direct proportion is written as such, X1/X2 equals Y1/Y2. So if we say 1/2 equals 4/8, well these are directly proportional. The way that you know that they are is if 1 times 8, if we cross multiply 1 times 8 is 8 and 2 times 4 equals 8. So they are proportional. Now this is irreducible because 1 and 2 are both too small to be reduced. However, 4 and 8 are both divisible by the same number, 4. So we can reduce it down to 1/2 and the only time you can reduce a proportion is if both numbers are reducable by the same number. So let's say we have the proportion of 6 people for 12 car. Well, this can also be called a ratio but when we set this up as a proportion 6/12 then we can say well they are proportional but they're both divisible by 6. So we can divide each by 6 and we get 1/2. So, I'm Charlie Kasov, and you just learned how to reduce proportions. Thanks a lot.