A school conducted a survey to analyze students' preferences for different types of sports. The data collected includes the number of students who favor each sport:

Soccer: 18

Basketball: 24

Baseball: 16

Tennis: 12

The principal wants to understand the fraction of students who prefer soccer compared to the total number of students surveyed. If the total number of students surveyed is the sum of all students who favor these sports, what is the fractional representation of students who prefer soccer?