13. A recipe for pancakes serves 4 people and requires 1.5 cups of flour. If the cook wants to make enough pancakes to serve 8 people, how much flour is needed?
Answer: A
3 cups of flour are needed to serve 8 people.
To double the recipe for pancakes that serves 4 people, which requires 1.5 cups of flour, the cook will need a total of 3 cups of flour to serve 8 people.
A) 3 cups
This option is correct because doubling the amount of flour from the original recipe of 1.5 cups for 4 people results in 3 cups for 8 people. This is a straightforward calculation based on the proportion of servings.
B) 5.5 cups
This option is incorrect as it does not correctly reflect the doubling of the original recipe. Adding too much flour would lead to an imbalance in the recipe and result in pancakes that are not properly structured.
C) 8 cups
This option is also incorrect. It significantly exceeds the amount needed for doubling the recipe. Using 8 cups would result in an excessive quantity of flour, far beyond what is necessary for serving 8 people.
D) 1.5 cups
This option is incorrect because it represents the amount needed for only 4 people and does not account for the increased quantity of pancakes required for 8 people.
Conclusion
The correct answer of 3 cups is derived from the need to double the flour quantity to accommodate 8 servings. Other options either underestimate or overestimate the required amount of flour, demonstrating a misunderstanding of proportionality in recipe scaling.