Clare bought half of 18 pencils which is 18 / 2 = 9 pencils. One - third of 18 pencils is (1 / 3) * 18 = 6 pencils. Jeanine gave out 6 pencils so he has 18 - 6 = 12 pencils left. Jeanine now has 12 - 9 = 3 pencils.
The answer: 3
Reverse engineering the question: Jeanine bought 18 pencils and Clare bought half as many pencils. If Jeanine gave one third of his pencils to Abby, how many more pencils than Clare does Jeanine have now?


Reasoning and answer: The farmer has 125 cows because 50 / .4 = 125. The farmer has 75 female cows because 125 x .6 = 75. The farmer will get 150 gallons of milk a day because 75 x 2 = 150.
The answer: 150
What was the question?
Question: 40% of a farmer's cattle are males. The rest are females. If a female cow produces 2 gallons of milk a day, how much milk will the farmer get a day if he has 50 male cows?


Each table needs 1 plank of wood * 4 legs = 4 planks of wood for the legs. This means each table needs 4 planks of wood for legs + 5 planks of wood for the surface = 9 planks of wood. To build 5 tables, Johnny will therefore need 9 planks of wood * 5 tables = 45 planks of wood.
The answer: 45
Reverse engineering the question: Johnny is buying planks of wood to build some tables. Each table needs a plank of wood for each of the legs and 5 planks of wood for the surface. If Johnny wants to build 5 tables, how many planks of wood does he need?


Reasoning and answer: Isabel has 34 apples - 6 that are not ripe = 28 ripe apples. To make pies they will need 28 apples / 4 apples per pie = 7 pies.
The answer: 7
What was the question?
Question: Isabel was helping her mom pick apples from their tree in the front yard. Together they picked 34 apples. They want to make apple pies. Each apple pie needs 4 apples, but the apples have to be ripe. 6 of the apples they picked are not ripe. How many pies can they make?


Darryl paid 3600 + 4500 = $8100 in costs for the parts and patent. Thus, Darryl needs to sell 8100 / 180 = 45 machines to break even.
The answer: 45
Reverse engineering the question: Darryl is an inventor who just designed a new machine. He had to pay $3600 for the parts to construct the machine, and $4500 for the patent he applied for once he built it. If the machine sells for $180, how many machines does Darryl need to sell to break even after the costs?


Rick has one less than three stripes, or 3 - 1 = 2 stripes on each tennis shoe. Hortense has double the 3 stripes that Olga has, or a total of 3 * 2 = 6 stripes per shoe. Since each of them has two tennis shoes per pair, then the total number of stripes on all of their shoes is 2 * (3 + 2 + 6) = 22 stripes.
The answer: 22
Reverse engineering the question:
Olga has three stripes on the side of each of her tennis shoes. Rick has one less stripe per shoe than does Olga. But Hortense has double the number of stripes on her tennis shoes as does Olga. In total, what is the combined number of stripes on all of their pairs of tennis shoes?