Grades 3–5 · Everyday Life
How do matching recipe batches scale?
Matching batches repeat the same ingredient group. Scaling a batch means multiplying every ingredient quantity by the same number, so the ingredients keep their original proportions.
In the diagramScale every ingredient togetherPretend recipe arithmetic · not cooking directionsONE BATCH2 cups oats1 cup berries2 matching batches4 cups oats + 2 cups berriesSame 2:1 proportion; every amount × 2.
The pretend recipe uses two cups of oats and one cup of berries per batch. Two matching batches repeat both quantities twice, giving four cups of oats and two cups of berries. Three batches use six cups and three cups. In each total, the oats remain twice the berries.
Doubling only the oats would change that relationship instead of making two matching batches. The same multiplier must apply to the whole ingredient group. These pictures explain quantity arithmetic with consistent cup units. They do not establish that cooking time, temperature or equipment changes by the same factor, and they are not a tested recipe or cooking directions.
About this explanation
Starting knowledge: Count equal picture groups and multiply small whole numbers by one, two or three.
Sources
- NRICH, University of Cambridge — Tray Bake
- Common Core State Standards Initiative — Grade 3 Operations and Algebraic Thinking, 3.OA.A.3