For example, if a gear with 20 teeth is driving a gear with 40 teeth, the speed ratio is 2:1. This means that the driven gear will rotate twice for every one rotation of the driving gear.
If the gear with 40 teeth is replaced with a gear with 10 teeth, the speed ratio becomes 4:1. This means that the driven gear will rotate four times for every one rotation of the driving gear.
Therefore, in order to obtain the maximum speed ratio, the gear with the smallest number of teeth should be used.