Question

Lydia is making spaghetti sauce at a community luncheon. Each batch requires 1⁄2 teaspoon of salt, 1⁄3 teaspoon of oregano, 1⁄4 teaspoon of crushed thyme, and 1⁄8 teaspoon of black pepper. Which spice is used in the largest quantity in Lydia's recipe?

Answer 1

Salt is used in the largest quantity in Lydia's recipe.

Step-by-step explanation

Required spices are......

Salt =
`(1)/(2)` teaspoon , Oregano =
`(1)/(3)` teaspoon, Crushed thyme =
`(1)/(4)` teaspoon and Black peeper =
`(1)/(8)` teaspoon

For finding the largest quantity, first we need to make the denominators of each fraction as equal and then identify the largest numerator.

The denominators are 2, 3, 4 and 8 and their LCM(Least common multiple) will be 24. So.....

`(1)/(2)= (1*12)/(2*12)=(12)/(24) \\ \\ (1)/(3)=(1*8)/(3*8)=(8)/(24)\\ \\ (1)/(4)=(1*6)/(4*6)=(6)/(24)\\ \\ (1)/(8)=(1*3)/(8*3)=(3)/(24)`

As the largest numerator is 12 here, so the value of
`(1)/(2)` is largest among all the fractions.

Thus, Salt is used in the largest quantity in Lydia's recipe.