Question

to make mortar you mix 1 shovel of cement with 5 shovels of sand. how much sand do you need to make 30 shovels of mortar

Answer 1

It takes 5 shovels of sand to make 1 shovel of mortar so how many will it take to have 30 shovels of mortar? You can put this in a proportion. 5/1 = x/30 You don't need to worry about the cement since it's asking for sand. Cross multiply and you get x·1 and 30·5. So this means you need 150 shovels of sand. x=150 when you multiply 30·5.