Problem Solving

It takes 1 pound of flour to make y cakes. The price of flour is w dollars for x pounds. In terms of w, x and y, what is the dollar cost of the flour required to make 1 cake?

A.) xy/w
B.) y/wx
C.) w/xy
D.) wx/y
E.) wxy

How can this be solved algebraically?

We'd want to start with the flour ratio. 1 pound gets us y cakes, so dividing both sides by y, we have 1/y pounds for 1 cake, and we'll need (1/y) pounds of flour.

We're told that it costs $w for x pounds. We want (1/y) pounds, so we divide both sides by xy, and we get $(w/xy) for (1/y) pounds.

Forget conventional ways of solving math questions. In PS, IVY approach is the easiest and quickest way to find the answer.



It takes 1 pound of flour to make y cakes. The price of flour is w dollars for x pounds. In terms of w, x and y, what is the dollar cost of the flour required to make 1 cake?

A.) xy/w
B.) y/wx
C.) w/xy
D.) wx/y
E.) wxy

How can this be solved algebraically?


Since 1 pound of flour takes to make y cakes x pounds of flour can be used to make xy cakes.
I.e. w dollars is needed to make xy cakes.
By the relation w : xy = ?:1 ---> we have ?= w/xy.
The answer is (C)


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