Dilution Ratios

Here I am on this earth into my 7th decade, never loved math and seriously never wanted to spend much time figuring it out. I was miffed when in college I needed to take a pre-algebra class since I had not made it through algebra 101...e-rrrr. So why on earth do I care about dilution ratios? Well the reality is I only care when I am trying to solve a problem that I have come across in MY life- not a book full of mysterious equations that I simply do not know how I could use. 

Fast-forward to real life...I like to make many of my own simple products rather than buy a store bought version with crazy additives, unnecessary added dollars and extra packaging I will be adding to our already burgeoning (and not in a good way) landfills.  I frequently mix up Hummingbird Nectar for our feeders and a problem arose. I could simply follow the directions...1 cup sugar to 4 cups water but then I am left with more nectar than my feeder can hold. Consequently I now have to store the sugar water until needed again. I have two feeders holding 14 ounces of liquid apiece... what is the ratio equivalent for this 4:1dilution? I spent quite a long time trying to figure the exact amounts out but today I must have asked the question properly of Google because I landed on this site...hurrah!

...maybe.

Omnicalculator.com refers to this as how much solute and solvent you need to get the desired dilution ratio. 

Here is the answer which of course is not so simple. There might be a reason that other areas of the world use metrics...

There is another thing that comes into play apparently... mixing ratios.

Sometimes it is simply better to mix up more than needed or be prepared to mix up an almost, approximately, kinda solution as my sweetheart does. 

Weird, it does not bother him one little bit!