Question

a recipe for cookies calls for 1/4 cup of brown sugar for one batch how many batches can be made with 3/8 cups of brown sugar

Answer 1

1) Gathering the data

1/4 cup of brown sugar ------ 1 batch

3/8 ---------------------------------- x

2) Let's solve this problem by setting a proportion to solve this:

1/4 cup of brown sugar ------ 1 batch

3/8 ---------------------------------- x

Since it is a proportion then we can cross multiply those fractions:

$\begin{gathered} \frac{1}{4}x=\frac{3}{8} \\ 8x=12 \\ \text{Divide both sides by 8} \\ x=\frac{12}{8}\text{ =}\frac{3}{2} \end{gathered}$

3) So with 3/8 cups of sugar, we can make 3/2 batches or 1.5 batches