Question posted by Lisa from the United States:
Grade/Level: Special Needs High School students
Question: A recipe uses one chicken to feed 5 people. You need to feed 50 people. How many chickens do you need to buy?
It is easier to solve this question using the "3-Lined Method".
In this method, we use the 1st line to depict the relationship given, the 2nd line to reduce the "left side" to 1 unit, and the 3rd line to work out the answer by finding the number of units desired.
Step 1: Establish the relationship between the 2 variables given, i.e., to feed 5 people, we need 1 chicken. Take note that we always place the unknown variable that we are trying to work out on the right side.
Step 2: Reduce the left side variable to 1 unit, in this case, divide by 5. To balance it, we need to do the same to the right, also divide by 5.
Step 3: To find the answer, we simple multiply by the number of units for the variable on the left side , i.e., the number of people to feed which is 50, and do likewise for the right side.
Thus, we need 10 chicken to feed 50 people.