Five times x plus seven equals eighteen
Do you mean an extraneous solution? I will tell you what I think. To tell if a solution is extraneous you need to go back to the original problem and check if there actually is a solution or if the solution is actually right. If not then it is extraneous.
The unit rate is how many calories are in 1 cup of cereal.
Set up a proportion:

Cross multiply and solve:

There are 100 calories per cup of cereal.
To get the calories in 4 cups of cereal, simply multiply the unit rate of 100cals/cup by 4.

There are 400 calories in 4 cups of cereal.