Proportion
a word with several applications.
In archæology, art, etc., that due observance of the balance of parts, in a statue or picture, which constitutes excellence. In arithmetic, a rule by which from three given quantities a fourth may be found bearing the same ratio to the third as the second bears to the first. Also called the Rule of Three.
In mathematics, the relation which one quantity bears to another of the same kind, with respect to magnitude or numerical value.
Compound proportion, the equality of the ratio of two quantities to another ratio, the antecedent and consequent of which are respectively the products of the antecedents and consequents of two or more ratios. Reciprocal proportion: a proportion in which the first term is to the second as the fourth to the third, 4:2::3:6. Rhythmical proportion in music. The proportion in relation to time or measure between different notes representing durations; thus, the semibreve is to the minim as 2:1, the semibreve to the crotchet as 4:1. Simple proportion: The relation of equality subsisting between two ratios.
PROPORTIONAL REPRESENTA- TION, an idea of representation a realization of which would insure the presence in a representative assembly of members divided in opinions in the same proportion in respect of numbers as the community represented.