Question

Otto used 5.5 cups of whole wheat flour and x cups of white flour in the recipe. What is the equation that can be used to find the value of y, the total amount of flour that Otto used in the recipe, and what are the constraints on the values of x and y?

y=5.5x; x is any integer greater than or equal to 0, and y is an integer greater than or equal to 5.
y=5.5x; x is any real number greater than or equal to 0, and y is any real number greater than or equal to 5.5.
y=x+5.5; x is any integer greater than or equal to 0, and y is an integer greater than or equal to 5.
y=x+5.5; x is any real number greater than or equal to 0, and y is any real number greater than or equal to 5.5.

Answer 1

To find the total amount of flour used by Otto, we need to consider both the whole wheat flour and the white flour. The equation that represents the total amount of flour \( y \) is:

\[
y = 5.5 + x
\]

Where:
- \( 5.5 \) is the amount of whole wheat flour used.
- \( x \) is the amount of white flour used.

Now, given this equation, let's analyze the constraints on the values of \( x \) and \( y \):

1. \( x \) represents the cups of white flour, which must be non-negative. Therefore, the constraint is:
\[
x \geq 0
\]

2. Consequently, since \( y = 5.5 + x \) and \( x \) is at least 0, the smallest \( y \) can be is when \( x = 0 \):
\[
y \geq 5.5
\]

Thus, the correct equation and the constraints are:

\[
y = x + 5.5; \quad x \text{ is any real number} \geq 0, \text{ and } y \text{ is any real number} \geq 5.5.
\]

So the correct answer is:

**y = x + 5.5; x is any real number greater than or equal to 0, and y is any real number greater than or equal to 5.5.**