Question

Every summer, an ice cream stand sells 3 times as many sugar cones as waffle cones.

Last year, they sold 288 sugar cones. For the upcoming summer, the manager decides to
order 288 sugar cones and 72 waffle cones. Did the manager order the correct number of
waffle cones? Use equivalent ratios to explain your answer.

What are the equivalent ratios.

Answer 1

The ratio of sugar cones to waffle cones that are sold is 3:1 (since 3 times as many sugar cones are sold as waffle cones).

To check if the manager ordered the correct number of waffle cones, we can use equivalent ratios.

If we set up a ratio of sugar cones to waffle cones, it would be:

288 sugar cones : x waffle cones

We don't know what x is yet, but we can set up an equivalent ratio using the 3:1 ratio:

3 sugar cones : 1 waffle cone

Now we can use cross-multiplication to solve for x:

3/1 = 288/x

3x = 288

x = 96

So according to the ratio of 3:1, if the ice cream stand sold 288 sugar cones, they would have sold 96 waffle cones.

However, the manager actually ordered 72 waffle cones, which is less than the expected amount of 96 waffle cones. Therefore, the manager did not order the correct number of waffle cones.