Question

3. Edward’s recipe for salad uses a ratio of cups of lettuce to lb of tomatoes. (a) Use a complex fraction to compare the amount of lettuce to the amount of tomatoes. (b) Determine how many cups of lettuce Edward needs to mix with 1 lb of tomatoes. Show your work.

Answer 1

(a) Complex fractions contain fractions as the numerator and denominator. For example, Edward's recipe for salad requires 3 3/4 cups of lettuce to 1 1/2 pounds of tomatoes.. Then the ratio would be


`(3 (3)/(4) )/(1 (1)/(2) )`

(b) We convert the complex fractions to improper fractions. The numerator would be (denominator*whole number)+numerator. The denominator remains as is.

3 3/4 = [(3*4)+3]/4 = 15/4
1 1/2 = [(2*1)+1]/2 = 3/2

So, if Edward has 1 lb of tomatoes,


`1 \ lb \ ( ( (15)/(4) )/( (3)/(2) ) )=1 \ lb \ ( (15)/(4) * (2)/(3))`


`= (30)/(12) = (5)/(2)`

Therefore, Edward needs 5/2 cups of lettuce.