My high school geometry teacher said we’re not allowed to use mixed fractions unless we’re baking.
Then one time he put mixed fractions on a test. He told the class he was baking when he wrote it.
Guess I’ll just come out and say it. I’m a mixed fraction fan. 23+2/3 instantly tells you it’s “23 and a bit”, unlike 74/3, and it’s more accurate than 23.67.
For me the problem is notation, putting a number in front of a fraction usually means multiplication and when giving a solution in anything but maths, the needed accuracy can be achieved with decimals
I like improper for numbers between 1 and 2 at least
Its not even helpful in baking.
It definitely is.
If a recipe calls for 3 and 3/4 cups flour, I know right away I need three 1 cup scoops of flour and one 3/4 cup scoop.
If it calls for 15/4 cups, now I need to calculate how many one cup scoops it is and also what the additional remaining fraction is in addition to how much I’ve actually measured out so far.
The more numbers you need to keep in your head when following a recipe, the more likely you are to make a mistake.
This is a great example of why volumetric recipes are inferior. With grams it’s just a single weight standard across the board. I’d much rather just use a scale, when a recipe call for 50g I know I need… a scale. When a recipe calls for 75g I know I need… a scale. No need for dirtying a bunch of inaccurate measuring implements.