Copyright © University of Cambridge. All rights reserved.
'Cereal Mix' printed from https://nrich.maths.org/
Why do this problem:
A
simple problem to get students starting to think about
ratio.
Possible approach :
Ask students to suggest possible combinations and their suggestions
could be written up for everyone in the group to see.
Key questions :
-
Do all these combinations cost $ £5$ per kg? How do
you find out?
-
Do any of these combinations give identical mixes? How do you
find out?
-
Are there any relationships between the quantities of the
different ingredients?
Possible extension :
Students can be pressed to explore and articulate more
explicitly the degree of freedom possible within the constraint
that the final mix should cost $ £5$ per kg.
Ask students to include a visualisation of why that result
(ratio relationship for Apricots, Nuts & Seeds) might be
expected.
Possible support :
For students who need more support than the text of the
problem.
Ask each student to generate a result price for a ratio mix of
their own choice.
List these mix costs, with the Apricot / Nut / Seed ratio that
produced them as reference for the next task.
Ask students to find ratios of ingredients that will put a
mixture cost per kg in between each value listed.