Question: Gilbert grows herbs in his yard to use in his cooking. At the beginning of the spring, he planted three basil bushes, a parsley plant, and two kinds of mint. Halfway through spring, one of the basil plants dropped seeds from a flower and made an extra basil plant grow. However, a rabbit came by the garden near the end of spring and ate all the mint. How many herb plants did Gilbert have when spring ended?
Answer: Gilbert planted 3 + 1 + 2 = 6 herb plants. He gained a basil plant when one of the basil plants seeded a new plant, so he had 6 + 1 = 7 plants. The rabbit ate both mint plants, so Gilbert had 7 - 2 = 5 herb plants when spring ended. The answer is 5.

Question: Two athletes decided to compete to see who had the best jumping ability. They were each going to do the long jump, triple jump, and high jump to see who had the highest average jump. The first athlete jumped 26 feet in the long jump, 30 feet in the triple jump, and 7 feet in the high jump. The second athlete jumped 24 feet in the long jump, 34 feet in the triple jump, and 8 feet in the high jump. What was the average jump of the winner?
Answer: The first athlete jumped a total of 63 feet because 26 + 30 + 7 = 63. The second athlete jumped a total of 66 feet because 24 + 34 + 8 = 66. The first athlete jumped 21 feet on average because 63 / 3 = 21. The second athlete jumped 22 feet on average because 66 / 3 = 22. The average jump of the winner was 22 feet because 22 > 21. The answer is 22.

Question: Marcus has three times as many cheese crackers as Mona. Nicholas has 6 more crackers than Mona. If Marcus has 27 crackers, how many crackers does Nicholas have?
Answer: Mona has 27 / 3 = 9 cheese crackers. Nicholas has 9 + 6 = 15 cheese crackers. The answer is 15.

Question: For every one dozen flowers bought, a customer gets 2 free flowers. If Maria wants to buy 3 dozens flowers, how many pieces of flowers will she have in all?
Answer:
Maria has 3 x 2 = 6 free flowers from buying 3 dozens flowers. Since each dozen is equal to 12, then Maria bought 3 x 12 = 36 flowers. Hence, she has a total of 36 + 6 = 42 flowers. The answer is 42.