Difference Between Rate and Ratio

A ratio is a comparison of two numbers and can be written multiple ways (like 1/6 or 1:6). You typically do not use units, but if you do, they are often the same. If you have 4 oranges and your friend as 6 oranges, the ratio of your oranges to his is 4/6, which simplifies to 2/3 or 0.666.

A rate is typically distance per unit time, such as 20 miles/hour. This rate is speed, in which you travel 20 miles per 1 hour. For rates, your units are different and often distance and time. Another rate could be some other number per unit time, such as 100kb/sec. In this case, you could say "for every one second, my computer can download 100kb of data." In three seconds, your computer would download 300kb given this rate.

Rate pertains to fixed quantity between 2 things while a ratio is the relationship between lots of things. 

A unit rate can be written as 12 kms per hour or 10km/1hr; a unit ratio can be written in this manner 10:1 or is read as 10 is to 1. 

A rate usually pertains to a certain change while a ratio is the difference of something.

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Rate and ratios are very important in explaining the equivalence from one and the other. A rate cannot be one if ratio does not exist.

You don’t even notice that these two are still being used in our day to day living like calculating bank interest, product cost and many more. Life has been made easier because of these two.

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The P/E ratio (price-to-earnings ratio)