Question

Grandma baked 1.5 times as many pancakes as waffles. After she baked 45 more waffles, and her grandchildren ate 12 pancakes, there were 17 more waffles than pancakes. How many waffles were there initially?

Answer 1

After setting up the equation based on the information given, it is calculated that Grandma originally baked 80 waffles.

Step-by-step explanation:

Let's define x as the initial number of waffles Grandma baked. According to the problem, she baked 1.5 times as many pancakes as waffles, which means she baked 1.5x pancakes. After baking 45 more waffles, the number of waffles became x + 45. Because the grandchildren ate 12 pancakes, there were 1.5x - 12 pancakes left. It is also given that after these events, there were 17 more waffles than pancakes, leading to the equation x + 45 = (1.5x - 12) + 17. Solving for x gives us:

x + 45 = 1.5x + 5

45 - 5 = 1.5x - x

40 = 0.5x

x = 80

Therefore, initially, there were 80 waffles.