Question

after a party, you have 2/5 of the brownies you made left over. there are 16 left. how many brownies did you make for the party

Answer 1

16 = 2/5
16 ÷ 2 = 2/5 ÷ 2/1
8 = 1/5
8 * 5 = 1/5 * 5
40 = 5/5
You started the party with 40 brownies

Answer 2

Let

x--------> total number of brownies made for the party

we know that

$\frac{2}{5}x=16$

Solve for x

$\frac{2}{5}x=16\\ \\2x=5*16\\ \\2x=80\\ \\x=40\ brownies$

therefore

the answer is

$40\ brownies$