The term "proportional" refers to a relationship between two quantities where a change in one quantity results in a consistent change in the other. For example, if you double the amount of money you spend on groceries, you can expect to receive roughly double the amount of food. This concept is often used in mathematics and science to describe how different variables interact. In everyday life, proportional relationships can be seen in various situations, such as cooking or scaling recipes. If a recipe calls for 2 cups of flour to make 12 cookies, using 4 cups of flour would yield 24 cookies, demonstrating a proportional increase in the quantities involved.