Cooking Measurements

Date: 10/24/2001 at 21:10:22
From: Christine Le
Subject: Measuring

How many teaspoons are in 1 tablespoon?

2 tablespoons = cup?
4 tablespoons = cup?

Date: 10/25/2001 at 09:30:55
From: Doctor Sarah
Subject: Re: measuring

Hi Christine - thanks for writing to Dr. Math.

You will find a table of measurements in the back of many cookbooks. 
Here's a chart:

EQUIVALENT MEASUREMENTS 

1 tablespoon = 3 teaspoons 
       1 cup = 16 tablespoon = 8 ounces 
     1/4 cup = 4 tablespoons 
     1/3 cup = 5 tablespoons plus 1 teaspoon 
      1 pint = 2 cups = 16 ounces 
     1 quart = 4 cups (2 pints) = 32 ounces 
     1 pound = 16 ounces
   1/2 pound = 8 ounces
   1/4 pound = 4 ounces

When I was learning measurements, I was taught to remember:
  "A pint's a pound, the world around."  
   (A pint and a pound are both 16 ounces.)

I also learned to remember that there are:
  "2 cups in a pint, 2 pints in a quart, 4 quarts in a gallon."

Doubling a recipe is pretty easy (just put in two of all the 
measurements), but what if you need to divide a recipe in half? Here 
are some measurements that may help:

Measurement    1/2 Measurement

1/8 teaspoon   just a dash
1 tablespoon   1 1/2 teaspoons
1/4 cup        2 tablespoons
1/3 cup        2 tablespoons + 2 teaspoons
3/4 cup        6 tablespoons

There are some Cooking Measurement Equivalents on the Web:

   The Learning Network
   http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0001723.html   

   BusyCooks.com
   http://www.busycooks.com/help/convert.html      

Does this help?

- Doctor Sarah, The Math Forum
  http://mathforum.org/dr.math/