Question

The amount of cereal in a particular box brand was reduced by 1 ounce, which accounts for a 5% reduction from the original amount. What is the original amount?

1.20 ounces
2.21 ounces
3.22 ounces
4.23 ounces

Answer 1

The correct answer is option 2, with the original amount of cereal being 21 ounces. The equation 0.05x = 1 was used to determine the original amount, x, before 1 ounce was reduced, resulting in an original amount of 21 ounces.

Step-by-step explanation:

The correct answer is option 2, which is 21 ounces. To find the original amount of cereal in the box before it was reduced by 1 ounce accounting for a 5% reduction, you can set up a simple equation. Let x represent the original amount of cereal. According to the problem, 5% of x is equivalent to 1 ounce, so we can express this as 0.05x = 1.

To find the original amount x, divide both sides of the equation by 0.05, which gives us x = 1 / 0.05. Calculating this, we get x = 20 ounces. However, since we are looking for the starting amount before the reduction, we must add back the 1 ounce that was reduced, ending up with x + 1 = 21 ounces.