At the start of her shift at Midtown Bakery, Megan made some batches of cookies that called for 3 cups of flour each. Then, she used the remaining 8 cups of flour she had to make a pan of muffins. She started her shift with a 20-cup bag of flour.

Question

Which equation can you use to find how many batches of cookies, x, Megan made?
How many batches of cookies did Megan make?
Write your answer as a whole number or a simplified fraction.
batches of cookies

Answer 1

To find out how many batches of cookies, \( x \), Megan made, we can set up the following equation based on the information given:

1. She started with 20 cups of flour.
2. Each batch of cookies requires 3 cups of flour.
3. After making the cookies, she used the remaining flour (8 cups) to make muffins.

The equation can be set up as:

\[ 20 - 3x = 8 \]

This equation represents the total cups of flour (20) minus the cups used for cookies (3 cups per batch times \( x \) batches) being equal to the amount of flour used for muffins (8 cups).

Now, we can solve for \( x \):

1. Subtract 8 from both sides: \[ 20 - 8 = 3x \] \[ 12 = 3x \]

2. Divide both sides by 3: \[ x = \frac{12}{3} \] \[ x = 4 \]

Therefore, Megan made 4 batches of cookies.