Heyy. We are Janne, Merle, Sophie and Kaatje and our subject is
Maths in the kitchen
Hello, I’m Janne van Gompel and I’m 14 years old. My hobbies are playing korfbal and meeting friends. I think our subject, maths in the kitchen, is quite nice because there’s a lot of mathematics involved in the kitchen which you often don’t even notice. I will gather information about measuring devices and edit the website.
I’m Kaatje and I’m 15 years old. My hobbies are playing korfbal and meeting friends. I think this project is really nice because we can compare and work with students from India. I also like this project because we are going to do something completely else than during the lessons. I will gather information about enlargements and interview my mother.
Hey, I’m Sophie and I’m 14 years old. My hobbies are hanging out with friends and playing soccer.
I think this project is nice because you are doing something completely else as during the lessons. I think in this project you’ll also realize how much you use maths in real life without even noticing it. I will gather information about enlargements and interview my father during this project.
Hi, I’m Merle and I’m 14 years old. I like playing tennis and hanging out with friends. I like this project because normally during math lessons I think it’s hard to visualise things such as fractions. In my opinion it’s easier to ‘make’ fractions in real life. I will gather information about ratio tables and interview my mother.
IN WHAT WAYS IS MATHEMATICS USED IN THE KITCHEN?
When you are baking a cake, you probably won't expect that mathematics is involved. BUT IT IS!!
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We are going to tell you about multiple aspects of maths in the kitchen:
- Measuring devices
- Enlargements
- Ratio tables
Measuring Devices
While reading a recipe, you often come across words like, ½ teaspoon, 2/3 cup, or a pinch. To make sure you don’t add for example way too much salt in your cookie dough you need to know which measuring devices there are and how much that is.
You have 3 different kinds of measuring devices: spoons, cups and pitchers. First we will tell you something about measuring spoons.
There are 4 different measuring spoons:
1. Tablespoon = 3 teaspoons -> T
2. Teaspoon -> t
3. ½ teaspoon
4. ¼ teaspoon
Old recipes sometimes call for a dash, a pinch or speck. This is less than 1/8 of a teaspoon.
The spoons are not really big, so they are mainly used for flavourful ingredients like salt, spices or seasoning, but sometimes you need to measure the right amount for main ingredients like sugar or flour and then the measuring spoons are just too small. In this situation measuring cups really come in handy.
There are 6 different sizes of measuring cups: -> C
1. 1 cup = 16 T
2. ½ cup = 8 T
3. 1/3 cup
4. ¼ cup = 4 T
5. ¾ cup = 12 T
6. 2/3 cup
When you have to use 2 cups, recipes often call for a pint.
Two pints, so 4 cups, is a quart.
4 quarts, equals 8 pints, equals 16 cups, is a gallon.
For measuring liquids, often measuring pitchers are used. They show how many litres, millilitres or cups liquid is in the pitcher.
Ratio tables
Before we start to explain ratio tables, we might as well first explain what ratios are. Ratio’s are used in mathematics to compare two quantities.
Equivalent ratio tables are connected. So just like in fractions, when you multiply the numerator by 3, you have to multiply the denominator with 3.
½=3/?
So 1x3=3 then you multiply the denominator, 2 in this case, with 3 too. So ½=3/6.
When using the equivalent ratio, you can know the scale. So when 2 dogs equal three cats the ratio is 2:3. This is used in cooking often too. When the scale is 1:3 sugar to flour, having added 150 grams of sugar, you should add 450 grams of flour.
We can also put this in a table like this and refer mathematics to cooking.
Often when people bake e.g. cakes, they cook by using ratios. So when you bake one cake you will need 200 grams of flour so when you bake two cakes you will need 2x200 grams= 400 grams.This shows us there is a direct proportional connection. You can show this connection in a table like this:
When you want to know a certain value, you can calculate this by either multiplying the numerator with a number to get the denominator. But wanting to calculate the numerator, you can also divide two denominators to see the number that the Numbers are multiplied with each time. You can also add or subtract a number, but that depends on the table. We can show you this in the following table.
So now this is the completed table
Enlargements
Surface
When enlarging an object five times, the length, width and the height gets five times as big.
That means the surface will get five times bigger as well.
The magnification rate for length= k
The magnification rate for surface=k2
The magnification rate for volume= k3
An example:
The magnification rate of the surface of the iPad is 5, that means that the right iPad is five times smaller than the left one.
The magnification rate for the surface will become 52
The surface of the left iPad is unknown
The surface of the right iPad is 15 cm2
52 = 25
25x15= 375 so that means that the surface of the left iPad is 375 cm2
(the surface of the right iPad)
Radius = 5
Diameter = 10
Height = 1
Volume cylinder = π x r2 x h
Volume = π x 25 x 1
Volume = 78.5 cm3
Magnification rate = 23 = 8
78.5 cm3 x 8 = 628 cm3
So the big pizza is 628 cm3
How to calculate a scale factor
When both heights of two objects are mentioned, for example:
the height of model 1 is 5 cm and the height of model 2 is 8 cm
The scale factor is 8 : 5 = 1.6 cm
But you can also calculate the scale factor by using the width of the objects
The formula for calculating the scale factor is: distance in image
corresponding distance in object
Diameter = 10
Height = 1
Volume cylinder = π x r2 x h
Volume = π x 25 x 1
Volume = 78.5 cm3
Magnification rate = 23 = 8
78.5 cm3 x 8 = 628 cm3
So the big pizza is 628 cm3
How to calculate a scale factor
When both heights of two objects are mentioned, for example:
the height of model 1 is 5 cm and the height of model 2 is 8 cm
The scale factor is 8 : 5 = 1.6 cm
But you can also calculate the scale factor by using the width of the objects
The formula for calculating the scale factor is: distance in image
corresponding distance in object
SO MATHEMATICS IS USED IN THE KITCHEN IN MANY WAYS. WAY MORE THAN YOU REALIZE WHEN YOU ARE PREPARING DINNER!
THE FIRST INTERVIEW
For this interview we have asked Gertjan, the father of Sophie, a couple of questions. Gertjan is a teacher at the Rooi Pannen in Eindhoven, where he teaches people how to cook. We asked him some questions about Mathematics in the kitchen.
The first question we have asked was how often and for what reason he can be found in the kitchen. His answer to this question was four days a week. During these four days, he gives cooking lessons and cooks for the guests in the restaurant which is also part of the Rooi Pannen. Besides spending four days in the kitchen at school he also cooks at home of course.
Another question we have asked Gertjan was how often he noticed that he had to use calculations during cooking. He answered that calculations are always needed while cooking. When you have a recipe for six persons for example but you have to cook for two persons, you will have to convert the recipe. However, calculations are not only needed when you need to convert a recipe but also when you need to calculate the purchase price of a meal for example.
When we asked if there was Mathematics included in his education his answer was simply no. The only subject given at the cookery school that is close to Mathematics in some way is calculating.
Then we asked if ratio tables are used during cooking and they are. Ratio tables help for example to weigh ingredients or for example how much of a certain ingredient should be added. A very simple example is when there is needed 100 grams for one cake and then 200 grams is needed for two cakes .
It can of course happen sometimes that there is added a too high or little amount of a certain ingredient because of a calculation error. But that happens to everyone.
The first question we have asked was how often and for what reason he can be found in the kitchen. His answer to this question was four days a week. During these four days, he gives cooking lessons and cooks for the guests in the restaurant which is also part of the Rooi Pannen. Besides spending four days in the kitchen at school he also cooks at home of course.
Another question we have asked Gertjan was how often he noticed that he had to use calculations during cooking. He answered that calculations are always needed while cooking. When you have a recipe for six persons for example but you have to cook for two persons, you will have to convert the recipe. However, calculations are not only needed when you need to convert a recipe but also when you need to calculate the purchase price of a meal for example.
When we asked if there was Mathematics included in his education his answer was simply no. The only subject given at the cookery school that is close to Mathematics in some way is calculating.
Then we asked if ratio tables are used during cooking and they are. Ratio tables help for example to weigh ingredients or for example how much of a certain ingredient should be added. A very simple example is when there is needed 100 grams for one cake and then 200 grams is needed for two cakes .
It can of course happen sometimes that there is added a too high or little amount of a certain ingredient because of a calculation error. But that happens to everyone.
THE SECOND INTERVIEW
For this interview we have asked Esther, Merle’s mother, a couple of questions about Maths in the kitchen. She works as an administrative assistant.
The first question we have asked was how often and for what reason she can be found in the kitchen. Her answer was that she can be found in the
kitchen for preparing dinner 7 days a week.
In her daily life, Esther uses mathematics every day at work, to calculate discounts, prices and purchases.
When we asked if she uses ratio tables while cooking her answer was simply no, because most of the time the recipes are already for the right amount or recipes are not needed.
Luckily Esther rarely makes mistakes during cooking!
For this interview we have asked Esther, Merle’s mother, a couple of questions about Maths in the kitchen. She works as an administrative assistant.
The first question we have asked was how often and for what reason she can be found in the kitchen. Her answer was that she can be found in the
kitchen for preparing dinner 7 days a week.
In her daily life, Esther uses mathematics every day at work, to calculate discounts, prices and purchases.
When we asked if she uses ratio tables while cooking her answer was simply no, because most of the time the recipes are already for the right amount or recipes are not needed.
Luckily Esther rarely makes mistakes during cooking!
THE THIRD INTERVIEW
For the third interview we interviewed Marijse, Kaatje's mother. She is a French teacher at a secondary school.
The first question we have asked was about how often and for what reason she could be found in the kitchen. She answered that she can be found in the kitchen quite often, for about three hours a day, mostly to prepare meals and to hang around, for example to read a magazine. She uses math in the kitchen for for example measuring quantities and turning on the oven. In her daily life, she doesn't use a lot of math at work, only to calculate marks.
When we asked if she uses ratio tables while cooking she said that she uses them for example to cook rice, one cup rice needs two cups of water. But most of the time the recipes are already for the right amount or they are not needed.
Sometimes she also has some problems with maths in the kitchen, for example when she has to make a cake and you want to make a bit more batter, you can't just double the ingredients, or with pancake mix, sometimes it's too thin and sometimes too thick. Also many people make mistakes with a teaspoon and a table spoon.
Also we had contact with students
from India who were working
on the same project.
Their research was also based on
existing mathematical concepts in the
kitchen and they were enjoying working
on the project just like us!
COMPARISON
In the previous couple of weeks, we have worked on the Eumind Maths project. To compare our work with the projects of other schools such as the Bal Bharati Public School in Rohini, we have visited their Weebly page. One of the things the Indian school in Rohini did different is the introduction. Opposite to our introduction, which was a written piece of information about ourselves, the Indian school made a video in which they introduced themselves in person. We think that this is a creative way of introducing yourself. Another difference we have noticed is the layout of our Weebly pages. They have used a lot of colours and videos to decorate their page while we have a white page with just a few pictures to clear up our information. However, their page is a bit unclear to us because when it comes to the interviews, the information is a bit mixed up. Although the information is mixed up, it is nice that they have added a picture of the person they have interviewed. Although we have used a lot of calculations to show that Mathematics is related to cooking, they have used more text and less calculations to make this clear. To conclude, we think they have created a nice Weebly page. We believe they have some aspects which they could improve, compared to us. But we also believe we have some aspects which we could improve, compared to them. |
We also compared our page to the page of students of Het College in Weert, the Netherlands.
Searching for similarities on the pages is quite hard, because when we chose to split the topic: Math in the Kitchen, into three different parts, the students from Weert decided to focus on one topic: the influence of baking powder in baking cupcakes. In the lay-out there are also quite a lot of differences. We used a white background and to make it a bit more colourful we put some lines in red, pink or blue. Also, we wrote down our information on our page with only a few pictures. The students in Weert made lots of videos where they even do experiments with baking powder. We think that this is really great and that they put a lot of effort in it. When we look at their chat with Indian students, we can immediately see that their chat was way bigger than ours, but we also noticed that we experienced the same problem: When asking a question, we didn't always get an answer we hoped for and this made the conversation hard sometimes. All in all, we think that the students from Weert made a beautiful Weebly page and that they did a really good job! |
REFLECTION
Our EU-Mind project went well. We feel like our communication could be slightly better since everybody gathered their information in a different way which made it difficult to put together.
After we had devided the topics, three people interviewed someone and the other person edited the website. The person who put our information in Weebly had to do a lot. The rest of the group wanted to help, but one person told us when she already finished her part. Happily, she said she did not mind, because it was not hard to do.
We also feel like we could have worked a bit more serious, in class. We believe that the division of the tasks went great and we all did about as much. Because the easy topics were 'given' to one person and the more difficult topic was given to two persons. This reflection is written by one person too, and the comparision by two, because that is harder.
We liked doing this project because we learned a lot from it and we thought it was very interesting, also to see what the indians did and comparing their work to our work. We also liked having contact with the Indians and would like to do the project again.
Thank you for reading our Weebly page!
We hope you enjoyed it and that you have a clear idea now of different aspects of maths in the kitchen!
Thank you for reading our Weebly page!
We hope you enjoyed it and that you have a clear idea now of different aspects of maths in the kitchen!