The Gingerbread Men Challenge

"Let's make gingerbread men!" said Gina, as she turned the last page of the new book she was learning to read, "The Gingerbread Man."

"Well, let's see if I have a recipe and the ingredients," I said, reaching for my collection of recipe books. We soon found a recipe for a large gingerbread man, and began to gather the ingredients for the cookie. Just as we were about to begin, Gina had another idea.

"Could we please make more than one so I can share them with Barney and Danny when they come?" asked Gina.

"I guess so, if we make them smaller," I said. "I can figure out how to change the cookie recipe, if you can tell me how

many cookies you want to make. This gingerbread man recipe calls for 2 cinnamon candies for the eyes, 4 raisins for the mouth, and 1 chocolate chip for the nose. I wonder how many cookies we can decorate with the ingredients we have on hand?"

"We have to follow the decoration recipe exactly, or they won't look right," said Gina as she began to count the items we had on hand. She counted 24 cinnamon candies, 40 raisins, and 15 chocolate chips.

If Gina followed the decorations recipe exactly, how many gingerbread men could we make? When you think you have the answer, please look back at the problem and make sure you answered the question asked in the problem. If you did, then please post your answer and solution strategy by clicking on "I want to send in my solution" at the bottom of this challenge. To avoid the dreaded "How did you get your answer?" response from me, remember to include

both your answer AND how you arrived at it. Did you draw a picture, use manipulatives, make a chart, act it out, use guess and check? How do you know your answer is correct? Then check back on this solution page in a few days. Just click "I want to send in my solution" again and scroll down until you find your posting. You should find a message from me, Aunty Math, and perhaps from some other people too!

Love,
Aunty Math
P.S. Have you ever made gingerbread men? Do you like the taste of gingerbread men cookies?

Aunty Math problems, copyright 2002, Angela G. Andrews You may download, print and make copies of "Aunt Mathilda's Math Challenges" for use in your classroom provided that you include the copyright notice shown on that page with all copies.