6th grade Q2

Setting up proportions helps you figure out how two things compare. Here’s a guide on how to do it step-by-step:

Step 1: Understand the situation

• Identify what you are comparing. This could be quantities like the number of apples to oranges, distances in travel scenarios, or ingredients in a recipe.

Step 2: Identify the quantities to compare

• Decide which quantities you need to relate. For instance, in baking, you might compare the amount of flour to sugar.

Step 3: Formulate the ratio

• Example: Setting up a proportion for a recipe requires knowing the initial amounts. If a cake recipe calls for 3 cups of flour and 2 cups of sugar, your starting ratio of flour to sugar is 3:2 or $\frac{3}{2}$.

Step 4: Set up the proportion

• If you want to make a bigger cake using 6 cups of flour, you also need to know how much sugar is needed to keep the cake tasting the same. Let's replace the amount of sugar with the letter $x$ as you don't know this amount yet. Now you can set up the proportion:

You will soon learn how to solve for $x$ to find the correct amount of sugar needed.