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A recipe for salad dressing asks for 1 1 2 1 2 1 cups of olive oil and 3/4 cups of vinegar. How many cups of olive oil do you need to mix with 15 cups of vinegar?

1 Answer

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Final answer:

To find out how many cups of olive oil are needed for 15 cups of vinegar, set up a proportion with the original recipe and solve for the unknown quantity. The calculation shows that you will need 40 cups of olive oil.

Step-by-step explanation:

The question requires setting up a proportion to determine how many cups of olive oil are needed when mixing with 15 cups of vinegar, given that the original recipe calls for 1½ cups of olive oil and ¾ cup of vinegar. To solve this, we can write the proportion as:

1½ cups olive oil / ¾ cup vinegar = x cups olive oil / 15 cups vinegar.

By cross-multiplying and solving for x, we get:

¾ * x = 1½ * 15

x = (1½ * 15) / ¾

x = (3/2 * 15) / (3/4)

x = 30 / ¾

x = 30 * (4/3)

x = 40

Therefore, you will need 40 cups of olive oil to mix with 15 cups of vinegar.

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