Solve 1/2:1/5=1/4:y

$$\frac { 1 } { 2 } : \frac { 1 } { 5 } = \frac { 1 } { 4 } : y$$

Solve for y

$$y=\frac{1}{10}=0.1$$

Steps for Solving Linear Equation

Variable y cannot be equal to 0 since division by zero is not defined. Multiply both sides of the equation by y.

$$y\times \frac{\frac{1}{2}}{\frac{1}{5}}=\frac{1}{4}$$

Divide \frac{1}{2} by \frac{1}{5} by multiplying \frac{1}{2} by the reciprocal of \frac{1}{5}.

$$y\times \frac{1}{2}\times 5=\frac{1}{4}$$

Multiply \frac{1}{2} and 5 to get \frac{5}{2}.

$$y\times \frac{5}{2}=\frac{1}{4}$$

Multiply both sides by \frac{2}{5}, the reciprocal of \frac{5}{2}.

$$y=\frac{1}{4}\times \frac{2}{5}$$

Multiply \frac{1}{4} times \frac{2}{5} by multiplying numerator times numerator and denominator times denominator.

$$y=\frac{1\times 2}{4\times 5}$$

Do the multiplications in the fraction \frac{1\times 2}{4\times 5}.

$$y=\frac{2}{20}$$

Reduce the fraction \frac{2}{20} to lowest terms by extracting and canceling out 2.

$$y=\frac{1}{10}$$