the relative magnitudes of two quantities ( usually expressed as a quotient)

The relation which one quantity or magnitude has to another of the same kind. It is expressed by the quotient of the division of the first by the second; thus, the ratio of 3 to 6 is expressed by / or /; of a to b by a/ b; or ( less commonly) the second term is made the dividend; as, a: b = b/ a.

Hence, fixed relation of number, quantity, or degree; rate; proportion; as, the ratio of representation in Congress.

The relation of one number or quantity to another.

Proportion; relation.

Relation of degree, number, etc.; proportion; rate.

The relation or proportion of one thing, such as a quantity, to another. See Rate.

In the case of the producers of corn, we saw that prices were practically uniform at any given place, being fixed by the ratio of supply and demand in the chief markets of the world. – Monopolies and the People by Charles Whiting Baker

In the conflict between the Will and the Imagination, the force of the Imagination is in direct ratio to the square of the Will. – The Practice of Autosuggestion by C. Harry Brooks

For more than a century she has been sowing the wind, carrying, and in the direct ratio of their connection with her, poverty and slavery into important countries of the earth. – Letters on International Copyright; Second Edition by Henry C. Carey

At the time of this visit to the army, the attention of the general officers, who then met me in conference, was called to the obligation created by law to organize the troops, when the numbers tendered by any State permitted it, into brigades and divisions composed of the regiments, battalions, or companies of such State, and to assign general and staff officers in the ratio of the troops thus received. – The Rise and Fall of the Confederate Government, Vol. 1 (of 2) by Jefferson Davis

With old- style rockets they'd a' had to have a mass ratio of a hundred and twenty to one. – Space Platform by Murray Leinster

I know not; but one thing I do know, the guilt of the North is increasing in a tremendous ratio as light is pouring in upon her on the subject and the sin of slavery. – The Anti-Slavery Examiner, Omnibus by American Anti-Slavery Society

It should be observed, that the above ratio was full avoirdupoise weight, without any deduction whatever. – An Historical Journal of the Transactions at Port Jackson and Norfolk Island by John Hunter

You are to him simply a clothes- peg and your merit is in exact ratio to the clothes you carry. – Pebbles on the Shore by Alpha of the Plough (Alfred George Gardiner)

What does a double negative do to my ratio? – An Encounter in Atlanta by Ed Howdershelt

It is a curious fact that any land projecting above the surface of the water is interesting and exciting in inverse ratio to its size. – Jungle Peace by William Beebe

This charge would be short of the proper ratio of dry soil. – The Copper-Clad World by Harl Vincent

Its first accumulation is slow, but as it proceeds the accumulation becomes rapid in a high ratio, and the element of self- denial declines. – What Social Classes Owe to Each Other by William Graham Sumner

Land acquisition was thus tied in a fixed ratio to population increase. – Virginia Under Charles I And Cromwell, 1625-1660 by Wilcomb E. Washburn

She tries to escape, when she can afford it, by adopting the apparently simple expedient of paying other people to perform these necessary and unnecessary household duties, but this expedient fails; the " social duties" increase in the same ratio as the servants increase and the task of overseeing these latter itself proves formidable. – The Task of Social Hygiene by Havelock Ellis

It has already begun to influence the elections of the United States; and should the Papal superstition be destined to live so long, and should its membership continue to increase at the present ratio, there will be as many Papists a century hence in the great valley of the Mississippi, and the tracts adjacent, as are at present in all Europe. – Leading Articles on Various Subjects by Hugh Miller

A few more centuries of progression, increasing in its ratio as time draws to a close, will hasten on the coming of our Lord. – The Works of John Bunyan Volume 3 by John Bunyan

Should the ratio of increase in the number of our merchant vessels be progressive, and be as great for the future as during the past year, the time is not distant when our tonnage and commercial marine will be larger than that of any other nation in the world. – Complete State of the Union Addresses from 1790 to the Present by Various