Question

A bakery makes 15 pies. They sell pieces that are 1/4 of the pie. How many pieces can they sell from 15 pies? How do you write an expression and solve?

Answer 1

There are 15 pies (let `x` be 15)

Let y be the number of pieces they can sell in total

Each pie can be sold in 4 pieces: `15xx4`

Therefore, `x xx4=y`

`15xx4=y`

`y=60`

Answer 2

See a solution process below:

Explanation:

Let's call the number of pieces we are looking for: `p`

We can then write and solve this equation using ratios:

`(4"pieces")/(1"pie") = p/(15"pie")`

`color(red)("pie") * (4"pieces")/(1"pie") = color(red)("pie") * p/(15"pie")`

`cancel(color(red)("pie")) * (4"pieces")/(1color(red)(cancel(color(black)("pie")))) = cancel(color(red)("pie")) * p/(15color(red)(cancel(color(black)("pie"))))`

`(4"pieces")/1 = p/15`

`(4"pieces") = p/15`

`color(red)(15) * (4"pieces") = color(red)(15) * p/15`

`60"pieces" = cancel(color(red)(15)) * p/color(red)(cancel(color(black)(15)))`

`60"pieces" = p`

15 pies would produce 60 pieces to sell.