Final answer:
Ellie will need to multiply 3 ounces of pasta by 8 to find out she needs 24 ounces or 1.5 pounds of pasta to serve eight people with leftovers.
Step-by-step explanation:
To calculate the amount of pasta Ellie needs to cook for eight people, we need to use multiplication. The standard portion per person is three ounces of pasta. Therefore, for eight people, she will need to multiply the number of people (8) by the standard portion per person (3 ounces).
Ellie's pasta calculation would be as follows:
- 3 ounces/person × 8 people = 24 ounces of pasta
Since there are 16 ounces in a pound, we can convert ounces to pounds to make it easier to measure the pasta she needs to buy and cook.
24 ounces ÷ 16 ounces/pound = 1.5 pounds of pasta.
Therefore, Ellie will need at least 1.5 pounds of pasta to ensure that there will be enough for eight people with the possibility of having plentiful leftovers.