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Scott jarred 10 liters of jam after 5 days. How many days does Scott need to spend making jam if he wants to jar 16 liters of jam in all? Assume the relationship is directly proportiona

User Body
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1 Answer

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The proportion can be written

... days/(16 L) = (5)/(10 L)

Multiplying by 16 L gives

... days = (16 L)×5/(10 L) = 8

It will take Scott 8 days to jar 16 L of jam.

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Or, you can consider that Scott jars 2 L per day. (= (10 L)/(5 days)). At that rate, it will take him (16 L)/(2 L/day) = 8 days. This is the same as the above proportion written "upside down":

... (16 L)/(days) = (10 L)/(5 days)

Multiplying by the denominator on the left, and dividing by the ratio on the right, this becomes ...

... (16 L)/((10 L)/(5 days)) = days = (16 L)/(2 L/day) . . . . . . as above

You can solve the proportion from any of the 4 ways it can be written, but it can be easier to solve if the unknown is in a numerator. Another way to write it with the unknown in the numerator is ...

... days/5 = (16 L)/(10 L)

... days = 5×1.6 = 8 . . . . . . multiplying by 5

User Abdool
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