Spaghetti is a fun, slurpy, saucy food. So how many noodles do we get in one box? We counted it up here at Bedtime Math, and you can try, too. The skinnier the noodles, the more noodles in 1 pound. We found that a pound has 24 linguine noodles in 1 ounce, which is 384 noodles in 16 ounces or 1 pound. Skinnier spaghetti had 576 noodles per pound, and the super-thin capellini had a whopping 1,136 noodles per pound! All the more to slurp.
Wee ones: If you slurp up 5 noodles, what number noodle do you slurp next?
Little kids: They say you should twirl just 3 spaghetti noodles at a time on your fork, so you don’t make a blob too big to bite. If you eat 3 noodles at a time, how many have you had after 3 bites? Bonus: If you always eat all 3 off each forkful, can you end up eating 14 noodles?
Big kids: How many 3-noodle fork twirls will feed you 1 ounce (24 noodles) of linguine? Bonus: If a box of angel hair has 1,200 noodles and you eat 1/2 the box yourself, how many noodles do you eat?
The sky’s the limit: If 24 linguine noodles weigh an ounce, but so do 71 angel hair, about how many times as heavy as angel hair is a linguine noodle? What nearby number would make it “perfect”?
Answers:
Wee ones: Number 6.
Little kids: 9 noodles. Bonus: No, because 14 isn’t a nice neat multiple of 3 – you’ll eat 12 or 15.
Big kids: 8 fork twirls. Bonus: 600 noodles.
The sky’s the limit: About 3 times as heavy. It would be exactly 3 times if there were 72 angel hair per ounce.
