Use proportions

Proportions can be used in a variety of contexts to compare two or more quantities. They are particularly useful when you have two ratios that are equivalent, and you want to find an unknown quantity.

For example, let's say you have a recipe that serves 6 people, but you need to make it for 10 people. You can use proportions to determine how much of each ingredient you will need.

Let's say one of the ingredients in the recipe is 2 cups of flour for 6 people. We can set up a proportion to find out how much flour we need for 10 people:

(2 cups of flour) / (6 people) = (x cups of flour) / (10 people)

To solve for x, we can cross-multiply:

2 * 10 = 6 * x

20 = 6 * x

Dividing both sides by 6:

20 / 6 = x

Therefore, x = 3.33 cups of flour.

So, to make the recipe for 10 people, you will need approximately 3.33 cups of flour.

In this example, we used proportions to compare the ratio of cups of flour to the number of people in the original recipe and then used that ratio to find the unknown quantity of cups of flour needed for 10 people. This is just one of the many ways proportions can be used in various real-life situations.