The Case of the Ruined Recipe

“No problem,” Caleb grinned. “We can just make one-fourth of the recipe!”

Tanya groaned. “Of course you’d make us do division!”

“Hey, division is fun!” Caleb laughed. “And fraction division can involve more multiplication than you might think. How about we do this: I’ll measure out the ingredients that are whole numbers, like the 2 cups of flour and 4 tablespoons of honey. I’ll multiply them by ¹/₄.  So you'll have the three fraction ingredients to divide by 4.”

“OK,” Tanya said. She gave a sly smile. “But I get to taste-test the cookies first!”

The Craft siblings got started on writing out a new list of ingredients, with the measurements equal to one-quarter of Nana Craft’s original recipe. In a couple of minutes, Tanya and Caleb both had their new lists done and were ready to measure.

Tanya peeked at Caleb’s list. “One-fourth of an egg? How do we measure that?”

Caleb shrugged. “I’ll just beat one egg in a bowl. Then I’ll measure how many tablespoons it is and use ¹/₄  of that amount. Dad can use the leftover egg in his breakfast sandwich when he gets up.”

“No problem,” Caleb grinned. “We can just make one-fourth of the recipe!”

Tanya groaned. “Of course you’d make us do division!”

“Division is fun!” Caleb laughed. “Fraction division uses more multiplication than you might think. Let’s do this. I’ll measure out the ingredients that are whole numbers. That includes the 2 cups of flour and 4 tablespoons of honey. I’ll multiply them by ¹/₄. You can work with the three fraction ingredients. You can divide them by 4.”

“OK,” Tanya said. She gave a sly smile. “But I get to taste the cookies first!”

Tanya and Caleb wrote a new list of ingredients. They made the measurements equal to one-quarter of Nana Craft’s recipe. Then they were ready to measure.

Tanya peeked at Caleb’s list. “One-fourth of an egg? How do we measure that?”

Caleb shrugged. “I’ll just beat one egg in a bowl. Then I’ll measure the amount of egg in tablespoons. I’ll use ¹/₄ of that amount. Dad can use the leftover egg in his breakfast sandwich.”

“No,” Caleb replied. He lifted the notecard with the recipe Nana had given them. “This is definitely how she makes it. We must have made a mistake in measuring. Tanya, give me your list, and I’ll compare both of ours against Nana’s.”

Tanya bit her lip while Caleb looked over the measurements. “Hurry, Caleb,” she warned. “We might not have time to make another batch to surprise Mom and Dad!”

“Aha,” Caleb exclaimed. He smacked his forehead and chuckled. “Of course! Just goes to show that even math detectives make mistakes!”

“You figured out what went wrong?” Tanya asked, excited.

“I sure did. Let’s try again.”

This time, the smells from the oven were nothing but sweet. Caleb grinned as he pulled out the second tray. “Perfect! They even crinkled on the top just like Nana’s do.”

“Hooray!” Tanya cheered. “And you remember what you promised?”

Caleb laughed. “Of course. Once they’re cooled, the first bite is yours.”

“No,” Caleb replied. He lifted the notecard. He read the recipe again. “This is definitely how she makes it. We must have made a mistake in measuring. Tanya, give me your list. I’ll compare both of our measurements against Nana’s.”

Tanya bit her lip. Caleb looked over the measurements. “Hurry, Caleb,” Tanya warned. “We might not have time to make another batch. Then we won’t be able to surprise Mom and Dad!”

“Aha,” Caleb said. He smacked his forehead. He chuckled. “Of course! Even math detectives make mistakes!”

“You figured out what went wrong?” Tanya asked.

“I sure did. Let’s try again.”

The smells from the oven were only sweet this time. Caleb grinned. He pulled out the second tray. “Perfect! They even crinkled on the top just like Nana’s do.”

“Hooray!” Tanya cheered. “And you remember what you promised?”

Caleb laughed. “Of course. Wait for them to cool. Then you can have the first bite.”