Reasoning and answer: Half a page is 20 / 2 = 10 lines. In total, he has written 20 + 10 = 30 lines. The 30 lines written are 30 * 10 = 300 words. Lucas has 400 - 300 = 100 words left to write.
The answer: 100
What was the question?
Question: Leo has to write a 400-word story for his literature class. 10 words fit on each line of his notebook and 20 lines fit on each page. Lucas has filled one and a half pages. How many words does he have left to write?


There are 300 + 200 + 80 = 580 birds in total. Every day 20 + 8 + 5 = 33 birds are lost. After a week which is 7 days, 33 * 7 = 231 birds would be lost. There would be 580 - 231 = 349 birds left in the poultry.
The answer: 349
Reverse engineering the question: A small poultry farm has 300 chickens, 200 turkeys and 80 guinea fowls. A strange, incurable disease hit the farm and every day the farmer lost 20 chickens, 8 turkeys and 5 guinea fowls. After a week, how many birds will be left in the poultry?


Reasoning and answer: The salesman sold 17 bags for 17 bags x $18 / bag = $306. He sold 10 more for 10 bags x $25 / bag = $250. Thus far he has sold 17 bags + 10 bags = 27 bags. Therefore he sold 48 bags - 27 bags = 21 bags for $22 each. 21 bags were sold for 21 bags x $22 / bag = $462. In total the salesman made $306 + $250 + $462 = $1018. The salesman made $1018 - $576 = $442 in profit.
The answer: 442
What was the question?
Question: A salesman bought a case of 48 backpacks for $576. He sold 17 of them for $18 at the swap meet, 10 were sold to a department store for $25 each. If the remainder were sold for $22 each. How much was the salesman's profit?


First find the total number of cans Jack can fit on one shelf: 12 cans / row * 4 rows / shelf = 48 cans / shelf. Then find the number of cans he can fit on all the shelves in one closet: 48 cans / shelf * 10 shelves = 480 cans.
The answer: 480
Reverse engineering the question: Jack is trying to stack cans in his emergency bunker. If he can fit 12 cans in one row, 4 rows on one shelf, and 10 shelves in one closet, how many cans can he store in each closet?


Reasoning and answer: If one bus leaves every half - hour, then during one hour, there are 1 + 1 = 2 buses that leave the station. During 5 days 2 * 12 * 5 = 120 buses leave the station.
The answer: 120
What was the question?
Question: At a bus station, a bus leaves every half-hour for 12 hours a day. How many buses leave the station for 5 days?


Reasoning and answer: He needs 10 * 6 = 60 feet. He loses 20 * .25 = 5 feet each time. So he gets 20 - 5 = 15 feet from each piece. That means he needs 60 / 15 = 4 pieces of rope.
The answer: 4
What was the question?
Question:
Tom needs to lower a rope down 6 stories.  One story is 10 feet. The only rope being sold is 20 feet long but you lose 25% when lashing them together. How many pieces of rope will he need to buy?