A student uses the ratio of 4 oranges to 6 fluid ounces to find the number of oranges needed to make 24 fluid ounces of juice. The student writes this proportion:

StartFraction 4 over 6 EndFraction = StartFraction 24 over 16 EndFraction

Explain the error in the student’s work.

Question

A student uses the ratio of 4 oranges to 6 fluid ounces to find the number of oranges needed to make 24 fluid ounces of juice. The student writes this proportion:

StartFraction 4 over 6 EndFraction = StartFraction 24 over 16 EndFraction

Explain the error in the student’s work.

Mercury · Answer

$$\frac{ 4 }{ 6 }=\frac{ 24 }{ 16 }$$

in order to go from one fraction to an equal fraction, you must multiply the numerator and the denominator by the same constant. if you do the math, you'll realize that this student did not multiply 4 and 6 by the same constant to get 24 and 16.