If the ratio of cats to dogs is 2:3, and there are 12 cats, how many dogs are there?

To determine the number of dogs based on the ratio of cats to dogs, we start by understanding the given ratio of 2:3, where for every 2 cats, there are 3 dogs.

If there are 12 cats, we can set up a proportion to find the number of dogs. The ratio indicates that for every 2 cats, there are 3 dogs. We can calculate how many groups of 2 cats are in 12 cats by dividing 12 by 2, which gives us 6 groups.

Since each group corresponds to 3 dogs, we multiply the number of groups (6) by the number of dogs per group (3):

6 groups × 3 dogs/group = 18 dogs.

This means that when there are 12 cats, there are 18 dogs in accordance with the original ratio of 2:3.