Question

An unfortunate cook made a few pancakes. One-fourth of all the pancakes were stolen by a cat. Then 4 pancakes were eaten by a parrot while the cook tried to catch the cat. Now, the cook has 32 pancakes. How many pancakes did the cat steal?

Answer 1

Given:

• p - (p/4 + 4) = 32

Let's simplify the equation to find p.

• p - p/4 - 4 = 32
• => p - p/4 = 32 + 4
• => 3p/4 = 36
• => 3p = 144
• => p = 144/3 = 48

We know that the cat stole 1/4 of the pancakes....

• => p/4 = amount of pancakes the cat stole.
• => 48/4 = amount of pancakes the cat stole.
• => 12 pancakes

The cat stole 12 pancakes.