Question. Grandma Molly created statues of turtles for her front lawn. The first year, she created 4 statues and placed them on her lawn. The second year, she quadrupled the number of statues on her front lawn. In the third year, she added another 12 statues to the front lawn, but a hail storm broke 3 of the statues, which she threw away. In the fourth year, she added twice as many new statues as had been broken the year before. At the end of the four years, how many turtle statues were on her front lawn?
Answer. 31
What step-by-step reasoning justifies that answer?
Reasoning: The second year, she quadrupled the number of statues in her front lawn, adding to the original 4 and bringing the total number to 4 * 4 = 16 statues. In the third year, she added another 12 statues, bringing the total number to 16 + 12 = 28 statues. But a hail storm broke 3, reducing the number to 28 - 3 = 25 statues. In the fourth year, she added twice as many new statues as had been broken the year before, adding 2 * 3 = 6 statues. Thus, the addition of these 6 statues brought the total number of statues to 25 + 6 = 31 statues.