Question

Charlie is making chocolate cake for his birthday party. He found a recipe that needs 2 cups of cocoa powder for every 3 cups of sugar. All of his friends are coming, so he uses 6 cups of cocoa powder in his cake.
How many cups of sugar should Charlie use?

Answer 1

The recipe states that the ratio of cocoa powder to sugar is 2 cups of cocoa powder for every 3 cups of sugar.

To determine how many cups of sugar Charlie should use with 6 cups of cocoa powder, we can set up a proportion based on the given ratio.

First, let’s express the ratio as an equation:

\[
\frac{\text{Cocoa Powder}}{\text{Sugar}} = \frac{2}{3}
\]

Let \( x \) be the amount of sugar Charlie should use. Since Charlie is using 6 cups of cocoa powder, we can plug that into the equation:

\[
\frac{6}{x} = \frac{2}{3}
\]

Now we can cross multiply to solve for \( x \):

\[
6 \cdot 3 = 2 \cdot x
\]

This simplifies to:

\[
18 = 2x
\]

Now, divide both sides by 2:

\[
x = \frac{18}{2} = 9
\]

Therefore, Charlie should use **9 cups of sugar** for his cake.