Question: Megan’s grandma gave her $125 to start a savings account. She was able to increase the account by 25% from funds she earned babysitting. Then it decreased by 20% when she bought a new pair of shoes. Her final balance is what percentage of her starting balance?
Answer with step-by-step thinking: Megan started with $125 and increased it by 25%, so $125 + (0.25)125 or $125 + $31.25 = $156.25. Then the balance decreased by 20%, so $156.25 – (0.20)156.25 or $156.25 - $31.25 = $125. $125 is the balance Megan started with, so her final balance is 100% of the starting balance.
So the answer is 100.


Question: Adrian has the choice between two boxes of contacts. One has 50 contacts for $25, and the other has 99 contacts for $33. He chooses the box that costs less per individual contact. How many contacts will it take to equal $1 worth in whatever box he decides to buy?
Answer with step-by-step thinking: First, we need to determine the price per contact in each of the two choices. We begin by performing 50 / 25 = 2 contacts per every dollar spent on choice A. Next, we determine the price per contact of the alternate choice. We do this by performing 99 / 33 = 3 contacts for every dollar spent on choice B. Since 3>2, Adrian purchases choice B. The answer is therefore 3.
So the answer is 3.


Question: Alyssa took 100 photos on vacation. She wants to put them in a photo album with 30 pages. She can place 3 photos each on the first 10 pages. Then she can place 4 photos each on the next 10 pages. If she wants to put an equal number of photos on each of the remaining pages of the album, how many photos can she place on each page?
Answer with step-by-step thinking:
There are 3 x 10 = 30 photos in total that can be placed in the first 10 pages. There are 4 x 10 = 40 photos in total that can be placed in the next 10 pages. A total of 10 + 10 = 20 pages of the album have been used. A total of 30 + 40 = 70 photos can be placed on those 20 pages. So there are still 100 - 70 = 30 photos left to be placed on the album. And there are 30 - 20 = 10 pages left in the album. Therefore, 30 / 10 = 3 photos can be placed on each of the pages.
So the answer is 3.