If you know one ratio in a proportion, you can use that information to find values in the other equivalent ratio. Using proportions can help you solve problems such as increasing a recipe to feed a larger crowd of people, creating a design with certain consistent features, or enlarging or reducing an image to scale.

Proportion is important whether an artwork’s style is realistic, abstract, or completely nonobjective (that is, without recognizable forms from the external world). Therefore, realistic drawing is especially effective in training the eye to see the thing-as-it-is in its relational proportions.

Proportion also describes how the sizes of different parts of a piece of art or design relate to each other. The proportions of a composition will affect how pleasing it looks and can be used to draw our attention to particular areas. The use of proportion is essential for creating accurate images.

Proportion in life is important, and could be the key to happiness. A common mistake many people seem to make is to start with something abstract — an idea or a feeling. The concept of “Quality Time” depends on the idea of planning to be effective. Quality time is not merely “being there for each other”.

When all numbers are given (A, B, C, D) in order to assess whether the proportion is true or false it will calculate the value of the division of A by B (A/B), and the value of the division of C by D then compares it. If the two resulting values are equal then the ratio is TRUE, otherwise is FALSE.

Approach: If four numbers a, b, c and d are in proportion then a:b = c:d. The solution is to sort the four numbers and pair up the first 2 together and the last 2 together and check their ratios this is because, in order for them to be in proportion, the product of means has to be equal to the product of extremes.

Trying to figure out if two ratios are proportional? If they’re in fraction form, set them equal to each other to test if they are proportional. Cross multiply and simplify. If you get a true statement, then the ratios are proportional!

A proportion is simply a statement that two ratios are equal. It can be written in two ways: as two equal fractions a/b = c/d; or using a colon, a:b = c:d. The following proportion is read as “twenty is to twenty-five as four is to five.”

If two ratios are equivalent to each other, then they are said to be in proportion. For example, the ratios 1:2, 2:4, and 3:6 are equivalent ratios.

The numbers in a proportion are called the terms: the 1st, the 2nd, the 3rd, and the 4th. We say that the 1st and the 3rd are corresponding terms, as are the 2nd and the 4th. corresponding terms are also proportional. As the first term is to the third, so the second will be to the fourth.

There are four types of proportion.

• Direct Proportion.
• Inverse Proportion.
• Compound Proportion.
• Continued Proportion.

Properties of Proportions If two ratios are equal, then their reciprocals must also be equal as long as they exist. The product of the extremes is equal to the product of the means.

The Formula for Percent Proportion is Parts /whole = percent/100. This formula can be used to find the percent of a given ratio and to find the missing value of a part or a whole.

Proportion is largely about the relationship of the size of one element when compared to another. When drawing or painting realistically, proportion is important. If the proportions are incorrect, then the resulting image will look less realistic or abstracted.

Proportion is said to be harmonious when a correct relationship exists between the elements with respect to size or quantity. Good proportion adds harmony, symmetry, or balance among the parts of a design.

Scale is used in art to describe the size of one object in relation to another, each object is often referred to as a whole. Proportion has a very similar definition but tends to refer to the relative size of parts within a whole. Essentially, scale and proportion help the viewer make sense of the artwork.