Ratios of Empirical Formulas

[TanveerDhaliwal3G]

What to do if the factor to multiple number of moles is not apparent. For example, one of the samples has 2.16 moles and you do not know what to multiple by to get a whole number.

[Frederick Keith_4C]

Aight chieftain, here's what you do. You're working with decimals, but we wanna work with fractions when we're calculating ratios. So basically, what you wanna do is take your decimal answer and just convert it to a fraction and then multiply by the denominator.
If you got a TI-84, just go MATH --> 1 and you'll convert it. You should be able to figure it out from there.

[jvera4b]

Just try to estimate what would number multiplied by .16 is close to 1. To my understanding, you simply have to be really close to a whole number. In this example, 2.16 * 6 = 12.96 which is close to 13. However, if the factor you use gives you (in the example lets say 3) a result (6.48) that is not close to a whole number don’t round, you should try to estimate a factor that will get you closer to the whole number.

[Jessa Maheras 4F]

So, if you try multiplying all of the numbers (the rations) by whole numbers, starting small, you will eventually get some numbers close to whole numbers. Of course, easier than this is to use the MATH function on your TI calculator. :)