A white compound is analyzed and found to contain
43.64% phosphorous and 56.36% oxygen by mass.
What can we do to compare the moles?
So we now have 1.409 moles of P &
3.523 moles of O.
Do this by dividing both mole values by the smaller one.
O
 
?
1.409
3.523
     
and
   
 P
 
?
1.409
1.409
=
=
3rd Step:  Convert the smaller number to one.
Empirical Formula Example 1