Question

A recipe calls for 2/3 cups of sugar. I have 5 1/2 cups of sugar. How many batches can I make, assuming I have a large quantity of all other ingredients?

Answer 1

8.25 batches.

(Or, if rounding to the lowest amount of batches, 8 batches)

Explanation:

We have in total 5 1/2 cups of sugar.

And the recipe calls for 2/3 cups of sugar.

So, to find out how many batches we can make, we can divide the amount of have by the amount needed. So:

`5(1)/(2)/(2)/(3)`

Let's convert the first fraction to improper form. We have 5 1/2. So, in improper form, it will be (5(2)+1)/2 or 11/2.

Therefore:

`=(11)/(2)/(2)/(3)`

To divide fractions, we keep, change, and flip. Therefore:

`=(11)/(2)*(3)/(2)`

Multiply straight across:

`=(33)/(4)=8.25`

So, we can make 8.25 batches.

Or, we can make 8 full batches.