Reply #7: I'm not that good with numbers, but...

[Dr. Strange]

my approach: let 3x and 16x denote the number of private and public school students, respectively. (We know we can do this, since the ratio is 3 to 16, which is what 3x to 16x simplifies to after canceling the xs.) Then the total number of students is 3x + 16x, which is 19x. So 19x = 18601. Solving for x yields x = 979. So there are 3x = 2937 private school students, and 16x = 15664 public school students. And, just to check (which is ALWAYS a good idea in a math problem):
2937/15664 simplifies to 3/16 which is the right ratio!