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An ice cream shop sells 16 cups

2024 Handbook

2024 Test A Math · Question 57 of 57

Question

An ice cream shop sells 16 cups of ice cream for $48 and 4 cups for $12. There is a proportional relationship between the number of cups of ice cream and the cost. What is the constant of proportionality for this relationship?

  • A3 cups per dollar
  • B3 dollars per cup
  • C4 cups per dollar
  • D4 dollars per cup
Show the answer

Correct answer: B

There is a proportional relationship between the cost and the number of cups of ice cream.

Divide the cost by the number of cups of ice cream to find the constant of proportionality.

48 dollars÷16 cups48\text{ dollars} \div 16\text{ cups}

=3 dollars per cup= 3\text{ dollars per cup}

12 dollars÷4 cups12\text{ dollars} \div 4\text{ cups}

=3 dollars per cup= 3\text{ dollars per cup}

The constant is the cost per cup, 3 dollars.

Question analysis

An ice cream shop sells 16 cups for $48 and 4 cups for $12, and the cost is proportional to the number of cups. This proportional relationship question asks for the constant of proportionality, with its units. The choices pair two numbers with two kinds of units, so the units of the rate matter as much as the number.

NYS standards
Grade level
Grade 7 content, by NYS standard
Compared with grade 7
Below grade 7 Grade 7 students find constants of proportionality in tables, graphs and equations. Here one division gives the number, as in grade 6 unit pricing, and the real demand is attaching the right units to it.
Estimated difficulty
Straightforward: two steps or one careful reading.
Solution
2 steps
Reading level
Question and choices: about grade 4, 50 words.
Students, last 30 days
Not enough answers yet to show (it takes 10).
Why it is hard, traps and wrong answers (shows the answer)

Why it is hard

One division gives the number, so the question is really about units. The cost depends on the number of cups, and dividing $48 by 16 cups gives the dollars for each cup; reversing the label describes a shop where one dollar buys three cups. The second offer, 4 cups for $12, is a built-in check that the rate stays the same.

  1. A very close wrong answer moderate Choosing the answer

    Two choices carry the number 3, "3 cups per dollar" and "3 dollars per cup", so finding 48 ÷ 16 is not enough; the units decide. (Embretson & Wetzel, 1987; Gorin & Embretson, 2006; Ascalon et al., 2007)

  2. Something you must already know minor Working it out

    Students must know that dividing dollars by cups gives dollars per cup: a quotient's units read as the top quantity per the bottom one. (Anderson & Krathwohl, 2001)

Strategy: Divide one quantity by the other for one offer, check that the other offer gives the same quotient, and label it with the numerator's units per the denominator's units.

Traps

  • Wrong operation: Adds instead of multiplying, divides the wrong way round, turns a ratio or rate upside down, or undoes a step in the wrong direction (subtracts what should be added back).
  • Numbers taken from the question: Combines the numbers in the question without a model of the situation, or is simply a number that appears in the question.

The wrong answers, classified

How the questions are analyzed, and the research behind it

Worked solution, step by step

Formulas used

Constant of proportionality
k=yxk = \frac{y}{x}
In a proportional relationship, y is always the same number, k, times x. Here x is the number of cups and y is the cost in dollars. So k is y divided by x. Its units are the top’s units per the bottom’s units: dollars per cup.

  1. Sort out the question

    16 cups cost $48, and 4 cups cost $12. The cost is proportional to the cups. That means the cost is always the same number times the number of cups. That number is the constant of proportionality. You need it with the right units.

  2. Divide cost by cups

    For each offer, divide the cost in dollars by the number of cups.

    k=yxk = \frac{y}{x}

    k=4816=3andk=124=3k = \frac{48}{16} = 3 \quad \text{and} \quad k = \frac{12}{4} = 3

    Both offers give 3. So the constant is 3.

  3. Name the units

    Dollars are on top and cups are on the bottom. So the units are dollars per cup. 3 dollars per cup means each cup costs $3. Watch out: two choices use 3. Choice A, 3 cups per dollar, flips the rate. Then 16 cups would cost only about $5, not $48.

  4. Avoid the traps and answer

    Watch out: dividing two costs, 48÷1248 \div 12, or two cup counts, 16÷416 \div 4, gives 4. That compares like amounts, so it is not a cost for each cup. It leads to choice C or D.

    So the answer is B, 3 dollars per cup.

Check your answer

Multiply back. At 3 dollars per cup, 16 cups cost 3×16=483 \times 16 = 48, which is $48. And 4 cups cost 3×4=123 \times 4 = 12, which is $12. Both match the shop’s prices.

More questions like this

The original DOE question

Question 114 as printed on page 91 of the DOE handbook.
As printed in the DOE’s NYC Guide to the Specialized High Schools Admissions Test (SHSAT) for 2025 Admissions, page 91, question 114. Open page 91 of the handbook (PDF) The handbook letters this question’s choices E–H; here they are A–D (E = A, F = B, G = C, H = D).