Jennie is making popcorn. The recipe calls for 1/2 cup of butter, 3 tablespoons of kernels, and 1 teaspoon of salt. If she uses 10 tablespoons of kernels, how much butter does she need? Round your answer to the nearest hundredth
To find out how much butter Jennie needs, you can first calculate the ratio of popcorn kernels to butter in the recipe.
According to the recipe, the ratio of kernels to butter is 3 tablespoons of kernels to 1/2 cup of butter. Next, convert the 1/2 cup to tablespoons for consistency in the ratio.
Since 1 cup is equal to 16 tablespoons, 1/2 cup is equal to 8 tablespoons. Now you have a ratio of 3 tablespoons of kernels to 8 tablespoons of butter.
To determine how much butter Jennie needs if she uses 10 tablespoons of kernels, you can set up a proportion:
3 tablespoons of kernels / 8 tablespoons of butter = 10 tablespoons of kernels / x tablespoons of butter
Solving for x, you can cross-multiply:
3x = 10 * 8
3x = 80
Divide both sides of the equation by 3:
x = 80/3
x ≈ 26.67
Therefore, Jennie would need approximately 26.67 tablespoons of butter when using 10 tablespoons of kernels. Rounding the answer to the nearest hundredth, the amount of butter needed would be 26.67 tablespoons.