How do historians define the term "causation

How do you solve a question like this?

Zoey made 5 1/2 cups of trail mix for a camping trip. she wants to divide the trail mix into 3/4 cup servings. a. ten people are going on the trip. can zoey make enough 3/4 cup servings so that each person gets one serving? b. what size would the servings need to be for everyone to have a serving?

Describe a situation that you could represent with the inequality x< 17