With layout_weight you can specify a size ratio between multiple views. E.g. you have a MapView and a table which should show some additional information to the map. The map should use 3/4 of the screen and table should use 1/4 of the screen. Then you will set the layout_weight of the map to 3 and the layout_weight of the table to 1.
To get it work you also have to set the height or width (depending on your orientation) to 0px.