Usually when Elena makes bird food, she mixes 9 cups of seeds with 6 tablespoons of maple syrup.

However, today she is short on ingredients. Think of a recipe that would yield a smaller batch of bird

food but still taste the same. Explain or show your reasoning.

3 cups of seeds and 2 tablespoons of maple syrup

-OR-

6 cups of seeds and 4 tablespoons of maple syrup

Step-by-step explanation:

As this is a ratio of 9:6: "for every 9 cups of seeds, there is 6 tablespoons of maple syrup"

The original ratio is 3:2 "for every 3 cups of seeds, there is 2 tablespoons of maple syrup"

Using this ratio, we can infer that 3:2 or 6:4 would be a simpler answer for this problem. If there is doubt, it would be better to use 3:2 as it is the smallest ratio.