Question

Last night, Trent invited friends over to watch a football game. He made 2 bowls of salsa to share and used hot peppers to make the salsa spicy. In the smaller bowl, he used 5 ounces of hot peppers and 20 ounces of tomatoes. In the larger bowl, he used 6 ounces of hot peppers and 30 ounces of tomatoes. Which bowl of salsa was spicier?

Answer 1

To determine which bowl of salsa was spicier, we can calculate the ratio of hot peppers to tomatoes for each bowl.

For the smaller bowl:

• Hot peppers: 5 ounces
• Tomatoes: 20 ounces

To find the ratio: \[ \text{Ratio for smaller bowl} = \frac{\text{hot peppers}}{\text{tomatoes}} = \frac{5}{20} = \frac{1}{4} \]

For the larger bowl:

• Hot peppers: 6 ounces
• Tomatoes: 30 ounces

To find the ratio: \[ \text{Ratio for larger bowl} = \frac{\text{hot peppers}}{\text{tomatoes}} = \frac{6}{30} = \frac{1}{5} \]

Now we compare the ratios:

• Smaller bowl: \( \frac{1}{4} \)
• Larger bowl: \( \frac{1}{5} \)

Since \( \frac{1}{4} > \frac{1}{5} \), this means the smaller bowl has a higher concentration of hot peppers relative to tomatoes than the larger bowl.

Therefore, the smaller bowl of salsa was spicier.