Grade 7 · Unit 1 · Lesson 1 · part 2 of 6
Unit, rate, per
You already know this one from 6th grade.
Unit, rate, per
You already know this one from 6th grade. Drive 120 miles in 2 hours, and you are going 60 miles per hour. You divided: 120 ÷ 2 = 60. That number, 60, tells you how far you go in one hour.
Now take the words apart, because they tell you exactly what to do.
Unitmeans one. One single thing, like 1 hour, 1 cup, or 1 wall.
Ratemeans how much of one thing for another, like miles for hours.
Permeans for each. Miles per hour is miles for each hour.
So a unit rate is how much for one.
60 miles per hour is a unit rate: 60 miles for one hour. $3 per pound is a unit rate: 3 dollars for one pound. Whenever you want a unit rate, you are asking, how much for one?
Hold on to that number. The rest of this unit is about one sentence, and the unit rate is the number in it: A proportional relationship always multiplies by the same number, the unit rate.