Word Problem Wednesday: A Sweet Holiday Treat!

By | Added Nov 30, 2016

Holiday spirit is in the air, and one of our favorite festive traditions is making homemade sweet treats to share with our friends! Of course, with much kitchen wizardry comes much math, which is our inspiration for this week's installment of Word Problem Wednesday. Solve our word problem below and check back tomorrow for the answer.

You can find the approximate temperature in Celsius by subtracting 32 from the temperature in Fahrenheit, then dividing that number by 2. A recipe for pecan brittle needs to be heated to 300°F, but your candy thermometer only measures in Celsius. Find the temperature in Celsius to which you should heat the candy.

Update: Here's the solution!

Three hundred degrees Fahrenheit, minus 32 is 268. We can mentally calculate half of 268 by finding half of each place value because each place value has an even digit. Half of 268 is 100 + 30 + 4 = 134°C.