culinary math

Probably, but not if you don't try to describe the problem you are trying to solve.
 
ok, heres the question, lemons are puchased by the case. A case contains 50 lemons. sells for 16.50. each lemon weighs 4 oz. yield percent for juice is 41%. How many lemons will you use to make 1.5 quarts of juice, and at what cost.
 
Okay, so what's your plan? This is a dimensional analysis problem. Just write down ALL the units you are given and the transformation shouldn't be too tricky.

1 case = 50 lemons
1 case = $16.50 so 50 lemons = $16.50
1 lemon = 4 oz
1 lemon = 4 oz * 41% = 1.64 oz juice

Now, you must come up with few more that everyone should know.

128 fluid ozs = 1 US gallon
4 quarts = 1 US gallon

We may be ready:

\(\displaystyle 1.5\;quarts\;juice\cdot\frac{1\;US\;Gallon}{4\;quarts}\cdot\frac{128\;ozs}{1\;gal}\cdot\frac{1\;lemon}{1.64\;ozs\;juice}\;=\;Number\;of\;Lemons\)

There is the number of lemons. Only arithmetic is left.

\(\displaystyle Number\;of\;Lemons\cdot\frac{1\;crate}{50\;lemons}\cdot\frac{\$16.50}{1\;crate}\;=\;Total\;Cost\)

Each of those fractions is equal to unity (1). That is the great secret.
 
A case contains 50 lemons. sells for 16.50. each lemon weighs 4 oz. yield percent for juice is 41%. How many lemons will you use to make 1.5 quarts of juice, and at what cost.
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I would suggest that this is either a trick question or one that is poorly written.

"each lemon weighs 4 oz." refers to dry measure. "1.5 quarts of juice" refers to liquid measure (and could be converted to "liquid" ounces). These are NOT the same. They are different units entirely. Therefore, "yield percent for juice is 41%" is meaningless.

The problem cannot be answered without additional info (such as how much liquid can be extracted from a lemon of a certain weight).
 
True enough on the inconsistency between oz types. However, it is common for esoteric applications to fail to observe such convention. I went with the assumption that the transition known as "yield percent" applied to the numerical portion of the data and was not required to be strictly conformable. In particular, a perfectly legitimate process may need to be written for very unskilled labor and such personnel simply would become confused by the technically correct nuance.

This assumption looks so innocent in it's original statement in the first post. :wink:
 
A case of broccoli weighs 18lbs. and cost $15.92. What is your cost per pound for raw, untrimmed broccoli?
 
Iwannalearn99 said:
A case of broccoli weighs 18lbs. and cost $15.92. What is your cost per pound for raw, untrimmed broccoli?
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How much does the case weigh?
 
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