If a recipe for a two-pound cake requires 1.5 cups of flour, how many cups are needed for 2 five-pound cakes?
I want to find the amount of flour per pound of cake, so I can multiply that by the total weight of the cakes I need to make. I can divide 1.5 cups of flour by 2 pounds of cake to get 0.75 cups of flour per pound of cake. Now I can multiply 0.75 cups of flour per pound of cake by the total weight of the cakes, which is 2 times 5 pounds, or 10 pounds. That gives me 0.75 times 10, or 7.5 cups of flour for 2 five-pound cakes. 