Question

Adam works at a bakery. He uses
`(1)/(8)`of his floor supply to make bread and
`(3)/(4)`of his flour supply to make other baked goods. If Adam used 21 pounds of flour, how flour did he have in his supply?

Answer 1

Adam uses 1/8 + 3/4 of his flour supply in total, to make the goods he needs. The LCM between 4 and 8 is 8.

So:

`\begin{gathered} (1)/(8)+(3)/(4)= \\ (1)/(8)+(6)/(8)=(7)/(8) \\ \end{gathered}`

7/8 of the total is 21 pounds. Let the total be x.

`\begin{gathered} (7)/(8)*x=21 \\ 7x=21*8 \\ 7x=168 \\ x=(168)/(7) \\ x=24 \end{gathered}`

Adam has a total of 24 pounds of flour in his supply.