Say you've got a bag of 20 lollies to share in the ratio 3 : 1. That ratio is telling you something simple: cut the bag into equal parts, and one person gets 3 of those parts while the other gets 1. The trick to every ratio problem is to figure out what one part is worth before anything else.
It's All About the Parts
The ratio 3 : 1 doesn't mean "3 lollies and 1 lolly". It means "3 parts to 1 part". So altogether there are 3 + 1 = 4 equal parts. Take the whole amount and chop it into those 4 equal parts: 20 ÷ 4 = 5. That's it — one part is worth 5 lollies. Drag the bar in the toy and you'll see it always splits into equal chunks, and each chunk holds the same amount.
Why One Part Is the Magic Number
Once you know one part is 5 lollies, the rest is just easy counting. The 3-part person gets 3 × 5 = 15, and the 1-part person gets 1 × 5 = 5. Press "highlight one part" in the toy to lock onto that single chunk — everything else is just copies of it. That one value is the key that opens the whole problem.
It Still Adds Back Up
Here's the safety net: 15 + 5 = 20, exactly the bag you started with. The shares always add back to the whole, because all you did was cut it up and hand the pieces out. Nothing went missing. If your two shares don't add back to the total, you've slipped somewhere — and that's a built-in check you get for free.