Given : the ratio of men to women = 5 : 8
And there are 56 female in the dance recital
So, let the number of men = x
[tex]x\colon56=5\colon8[/tex]Solve for x :
[tex]\begin{gathered} \frac{x}{56}=\frac{5}{8} \\ \\ x=\frac{5}{8}\cdot56=5\cdot\frac{56}{8}=5\cdot7=35 \end{gathered}[/tex]So, the answer is : the number of men = 35