At the Roseville Middle School Spring Festival, Ellen is running the egg-dying station. She needs 5 tablespoons of vinegar for every 2 color tablets she uses. Ellen plans to use 16 color tablets.

Question

How many tablespoons of vinegar will Ellen need?

Answer 1

To determine how many tablespoons of vinegar Ellen needs for 16 color tablets, we first analyze the ratio provided: Ellen uses 5 tablespoons of vinegar for every 2 color tablets.

To find out how many groups of 2 color tablets are in 16 color tablets, we divide 16 by 2:

\[ 16 \div 2 = 8 \]

This means there are 8 groups of 2 color tablets in 16 tablets. Since each group requires 5 tablespoons of vinegar, we calculate the total amount of vinegar needed by multiplying the number of groups by the tablespoons of vinegar needed per group:

\[ 8 \times 5 = 40 \]

Thus, Ellen will need 40 tablespoons of vinegar for 16 color tablets.