Food calories are known as "large calories" or "kilocalories" because one food calorie represents 1000 "small calories." Kilocalories are usually abbreviated Cal or Calorie, but when referring to food, it has become common practice to use a lowercase "c" to spell out the word calorie.

Notice that we do not add the calories for every ingredient in the recipe. Do you see why? Many of the ingredients, such as the mustard, cayenne pepper, and white vinegar have calories, but they occur in such small amounts that the number of calories is very small. In contrast, the main ingredients, such as the egg yolks, salad oil, and sugar have a relatively large number of calories. There is a variation in the number of calories every time you make the recipe. For example, eggs come in different sizes, and the oil measurement is difficult to measure precisely. If the oil varies by half a teaspoon, then the number of calories in the recipe varies by

So, the variation in the recipe is more than the calories in the minor ingredients. Calculating the main ingredients is "good enough." It is important to see why the answer in the above multiplication is listed in "calories." This type of reasoning is called unit analysis. Remembering to list the units in math is one of the best ways to improve your math skills. Notice how the "tsp" and "cups" units cancel out in the multiplication.

Choose your favorite family recipe. Find the number of calories in the recipe and then find the number of calories in a single serving.

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1. Add the number of teaspoons for each ingredient in the recipe.

   

   There are 88 teaspoons in the recipe.

2. Divide the number of calories in the recipe by the number of teaspoons to get calories per teaspoon.

   

   There are 35 calories in each teaspoon.