A story to share together
The Lemonade Ratio and the Fair Split
Lina's team ruins a test batch by adding the same amount to every ingredient, then scales the recipe correctly by multiplying it eight times. After selling forty cups, they reject a quick equal split, pay back each person's costs and share the profit by hours worked.
Page 1
Every spring, the sixth grade held a market day in the school courtyard, and each team of four ran its own stall. Lina, Marcus, Priya and Sam chose lemonade. Lina brought her grandmother's recipe: for every one cup of lemon juice, use four cups of water and half a cup of sugar. One batch filled five paper cups. Their goal was to sell forty cups.
Page 2
On Saturday they practiced in Lina's kitchen. Marcus wanted a bigger test batch, so he poured in two extra cups of every ingredient. That made three cups of juice, six cups of water and two and a half cups of sugar. Priya took one sip and her whole face puckered. “It's sour and sticky at the same time,” she gasped.
Page 3
Lina compared the numbers. In the real recipe, juice was one cup out of every five cups of liquid, but in Marcus's batch it was three cups out of nine, which is one third. “Adding the same amount to everything changes the ratio,” she said. “We have to multiply every ingredient by the same number.” To reach forty cups, they needed eight batches, so she doubled the recipe, doubled it again and doubled it a third time.
Page 4
Eight batches meant eight cups of lemon juice, thirty-two cups of water and four cups of sugar. Since about six lemons make one cup of juice, they needed forty-eight lemons. At the farmers market, lemons were four for a dollar, so the lemons cost twelve dollars. A bag of sugar cost three dollars, and a pack of fifty paper cups cost five, for a total of twenty dollars.
Page 5
Lina paid eight dollars, Marcus paid six and Priya paid six. Sam had spent his allowance on a book, but he promised to squeeze lemons and stay to clean up. Lina recorded every amount in her small notebook. The costs worked out to fifty cents for each of the forty cups. They set the price at one dollar, so each cup sold would earn fifty cents of profit.
Page 6
On market morning, they squeezed all forty-eight lemons and split everything between two large drink dispensers. Each dispenser got half of the eight-batch recipe: four cups of juice, sixteen cups of chilled water and two cups of sugar, which made twenty cups of lemonade. Priya stirred until the sugar disappeared. Then Sam poured the first cup, and a line began to form at their stall.
Page 7
By noon, both dispensers were empty, and all forty cups had sold, so the cash box held forty dollars. “Ten dollars each,” Sam said with a grin. Lina shook her head slowly. “I paid eight dollars for supplies, so if we split all forty, I gain only two dollars, and Sam gains ten without paying anything. First we pay back the twenty dollars we spent.”
Page 8
After paying back the costs, the profit was forty minus twenty, or twenty dollars. Priya suggested splitting it equally, five dollars each. Marcus pointed out that he and Lina had worked three hours, from squeezing to selling, while Priya and Sam had worked two. The team agreed to share the profit by hours worked. Together they had worked ten hours, so each hour earned two dollars.
Page 9
Lina counted it out. She and Marcus each earned six dollars of profit for three hours, while Priya and Sam each earned four dollars for two hours. With the costs paid back, Lina got fourteen dollars, Marcus twelve, Priya ten and Sam four. Sam added the four amounts on his fingers and nodded. Fourteen, twelve, ten and four made exactly forty.
Page 10
Priya rinsed the two empty dispensers while Marcus folded the table legs. Sam stacked the ten unused paper cups into a neat tower for next year. Lina tied each cloth pouch shut and handed them around, one for each of them. Then the four friends carried the folded table back across the sunny courtyard together, their pouches swinging from their wrists.
