Allison Loves Collecting Sports Cards

Allison is a huge sports fan and has been an avid collector of baseball and football cards since she was just 5 years old. She loves learning about the players, their stats, and following her favorite teams. Every birthday and holiday, Allison asks for sports card packs to add to her growing collections. Over the years, her baseball and football card collections have grown tremendously.

Recently, Allison decided she wanted to take inventory of exactly how many cards she has in each collection. She pulled out all her baseball cards and started counting. It took her over an hour but when she was done she had counted a total of 125 baseball cards. “Wow, I have way more baseball cards than I thought,” she said to herself.

Next, Allison moved on to counting her football cards. This collection was smaller so it didn’t take as long but when she finished tallying them all up she had only 25 football cards. Allison realized right away that she had five times as many baseball cards as football cards.

Let’s break this down step-by-step:

Allison counted that she had 125 baseball cards
She counted that she had 25 football cards
To determine if one amount is 5 times greater than the other, we set up a ratio:
Baseball cards (125) to Football cards (25) is 125:25
To check if it is a 5:1 ratio, we divide the larger number by the smaller number:
125/25 = 5
Since the result is an integer (5), we can say that 125 is indeed 5 times greater than 25.
Therefore, the statement “Allison has 5 times as many baseball cards as football cards” is true.

Now let’s think about how Allison’s card collections may have grown to be this way:

As many kids do, Allison likely started out with a relatively even interest in both baseball and football when she was very young. As she got a bit older her interests likely expanded more towards baseball. There are a few potential reasons why:

Exposure – Allison’s local Little League likely had more participants than her local youth football league. Being around more baseball playing peers could have increased her interest level.

Family – It’s possible Allison’s parents, siblings, or other relatives were also bigger baseball fans which could have influenced her naturally. Kids often share interests with family members.

Popularity – Baseball generally has higher youth participation numbers than football in many areas of the country. Its easier accessibility at younger ages may have attracted Allison’s initial interest more.

Timing of Seasons – Baseball season runs in the spring and summer when kids are out of school. This allows for more flexible participation. Football season overlaps the start of the school year making practice/games logistically tougher.

With her growing interest in baseball over time, it makes sense that Allison would ask for and receive more baseball cards in her packs each year compared to football cards. This snowball effect allowed her baseball collection to greatly outpace the growth of her football collection.

Of course, it’s also possible that Allison simply preferred the players, teams, or action of baseball slightly more than football on an individual level. Different kids naturally gravitate towards different sports. Regardless of the specific reasons, the numbers don’t lie – Allison definitely has accumulated five times as many baseball cards compared to her football cards.

At this point in her collecting career, Allison has amassed a sizable sports card collection spanning two major sports. As her interests continue to expand and change over the coming years, it will be interesting to see if the ratio of her baseball to football cards remains the same or shifts in some way. One thing is for certain – Allison’s love of sports and collecting cards shows no signs of slowing down anytime soon!