Question

A recipe calls for a total of 2 cups of sugar. If the recipe says to use 1/4 of the sugar at the beginning of the recipe and the remaining 3/4 of the sugar at the end of the recipe, how much sugar will be used at the beginning of the recipe?​

Answer 1

First round the recipe measure up to the nearest whole measure. The point of rounding to a whole measure is that whole measures are easier to divide in most recipies.
In your example round the 3/4 cup up to 1 cup. Remember the direction you rounded and by how much. You will reverse these later. So in this example the direction was UP and the fraction was 1/4.
Now divide that full measure into the number of portions called for in the recipe.
In this example we divide the 8 oz full cup in to two portions. This results in two 4 oz portions or two 1/2 cup portions.
Finally reverse the direction and fraction from step one. So in this example you would remove 1/4 of each divided portion. That is you would remove 1 oz from each of the two 4 oz portions

Answer 2

If the recipe calls for a total of 2 cups of sugar and 1/4 of the sugar is used at the beginning of the recipe, then the amount of sugar used at the beginning of the recipe is:

1/4 x 2 cups = 0.5 cups

Therefore, 0.5 cups of sugar will be used at the beginning of the recipe.