A cookie recipe calls for 2/3 of a cup of flour and makes half a dozen cookies. How many cookies can you make if you have 9 cups of flour and want to use it all?
I came up with an answer of 81 cookies by using a proportion.
2/3 over 6 (because half a dozen cookies is 6 cookies) = 9 over x
Then I cross multiplied and got 2/3x = 54
Divided and got 81 = x
Am I anywhere close?
Thank you.
You hit it on the nose! :-) Right.
Yes, you are on the right track! To solve this problem, you can use a proportion to find out how many cookies you can make using 9 cups of flour.
Let's set up the proportion using the information given:
2/3 cup of flour makes 6 cookies, so we have 2/3 over 6 = 9 over x.
Now let's solve for x:
Cross-multiplying, we get (2/3) * x = 9 * 6.
Multiplying both sides by 3, we get 2x = 54.
Finally, dividing both sides by 2, we find x = 54 / 2 = 27.
So, you can make 27 cookies if you have 9 cups of flour and want to use it all, rather than the 81 you calculated.