Stream of consciousness rationale: Since the ratio of apples to oranges is 3:1, that means for every 3 apples there is 1 orange. The size of this group is therefore 3 + 1 = 4. We then divide this group size into the total amount of fruit the basket is holding at this time, which is 40. This means there are 40 / 4 = 10 of these groups in total. Since there are 10 of these groups in total, that means there are 10 * 1 = 10 oranges in the basket.
The question and answer pair are described below.
Q: If a basket is capable of holding 40 fruit altogether, and there are 3 times as many apples as oranges, how many oranges are there?
A: 10