Kendra is making bread, but the recipe she is using makes 4 loaves. She only wants to make one loaf. The changed recipe calls for 2 1/2 cups of flour and sugar combined. If the original recipe calls for 2 cups of sugar, find the amount of flour (in cups) in the original recipe.

Answer 1

Let's call the amount of flour in the original recipe "x".

The amount of flour and sugar combined in the original recipe is "2x" (since she is using 2 cups of sugar and x cups of flour).

According to the changed recipe, she needs 2 1/2 cups of flour and sugar combined. Since she only wants to make one loaf, she needs 1/4 of the original amount.

Therefore, 1/4 of "2x" is 2 1/2 cups.

This can be expressed as the equation:

(1/4)(2x) = 2 1/2

Let's convert 2 1/2 to an improper fraction: 2 1/2 = (5/2)

Now we can solve for x:

(1/4)(2x) = 5/2

Multiplying through by 4:

2x = 20/2

2x = 10

Dividing both sides by 2:

x = 5

Therefore, the amount of flour in the original recipe is 5 cups.