If 16 cups equals one gallon than one 1/4 gallon equal cups

Well...this is a proportion problwm. for every 16 cups I have 1 gallon, so I can write that as:

16 cups

1 gallon

this value will be proportional to 1/4 a gallon equal "so many" cups. let's equal the unknown about of cups to x.

16 cups x cups
=
1 gallon 1/4 gallons

I can cross multiply to find x.

1 gallon • x cups = 16 cups • 1/4 gallons

16 times 1/4 is the same as 16/4, which equals 4.

1 gallon • x cups = 4 cups gallons

divide both sides by gallons

x cups = 4 cups

so! 1/4 of a gallon equals 4 cups.