Question

For a given recipe, 24 cups of flour are mixed with 12 cups of sugar. How many cups of sugar should be used if 8 cups of flour are used?

Answer 1

Using a proportion based on the original recipe ratio, for 8 cups of flour, one would need 4 cups of sugar to maintain the correct proportions of ingredients.

Step-by-step explanation:

To solve this problem, we need to set up a proportion because the amount of sugar should be directly proportional to the amount of flour. In the original recipe, 24 cups of flour are combined with 12 cups of sugar, creating a ratio of flour to sugar, which is 24 cups of flour : 12 cups of sugar.

This ratio simplifies to 2:1, which means that for every 2 cups of flour, one uses 1 cup of sugar. Now, if we only want to use 8 cups of flour, we can set up our proportion like this:

24 cups of flour / 12 cups of sugar = 8 cups of flour / x cups of sugar

Now, solve for x:

24 / 12 = 8 / x

2 = 8 / x

x * 2 = 8

x = 8 / 2

x = 4 cups of sugar

Hence, if 8 cups of flour are used, then 4 cups of sugar should be used. This illustrates how ingredients in a recipe can be scaled up or down proportionally.

Answer 2

First, 24 divided by 8 equals 3. this means you divide 12 by 3. you get 4. 4 cups of sugar will be used when 8 cups of flour are used.