I recently prepared a box of Pasta Roni, which involved stirring together the pasta, 1½ cups water, ¾ cups milk, and 2 tablespoons “margarine, butter, or spread with no trans fat” in its preparation.  This is routine and uninteresting.

Then I noticed smaller lettering beneath the directions (verbatim and unabridged, but with my emphasis):

To Prepare Two Boxes:  Follow Range Top Directions, except prepare 2 boxes of PASTA RONI^® Four Cheese Flavor with Corkscrew Pasta in a 3-quart saucepan with 3 cups water, 1½ cups milk and 4 tablespoons margarine, butter or spread with no trans fat.

Go ahead – go back and do the math.  Take your time.  You’ll discover, as I did, that the sole purpose of that sentence is to tell you to double the ingredients you use when making double the amount.  No.  Strike that.  The sole purpose of that sentence is to tell you that 2 × ¾ = 1½, that 2 × 2 = 4, and that 2 × 1½ = 3.

It has apparently fallen to the Quaker Oats Company (which makes Pasta Roni) to teach adults in the United States how to double fractions.  Even if you’re incapable of doing the math, couldn’t you just measure out 1½ cups, pour it into the pot, and then measure out another 1½ cups?