Musicians. seventy five of them are women. which of the following is the ration of the men to the total musicians in the symphony?

We know how many members there are (125) and how many women there are (75). To find the ratio of men to membersmen/members=menmembers=men:members We need to know the number of men. We can substitute what we know: men/125=men125=men:125 But we do not yet know the number of men.
Think logically, if men and women compose the orchestra, we can put that into math words by saying men + women = orchestra Again, let's substitute what we know. men + 75 = 125 This is a missing addend problem. Men is being added to 75 to make 125, so how many men are there?

men + 75 = 125 men = 50 I hope you can figure out how I got 50 men. Either way, let's check. men + women = orchestra 50 + 75 = 125 125 = 125 It works So we have everything we need to finish our problem.
men/125=men125=men:125 men = 50 Let's put it in 50/125=50125=50:125

With a continuous thought process.