[Question]: Sydney and Conner are having a three day rock collecting contest to see who can have the largest collection after adding to their existing collections. Before they start, Sydney has 837 rocks and Conner has 723. On day one, Sydney collects 4 rocks and Conner collects 8 times as many. On day two Sydney rests and Conner collects 123. On the third day, Sydney collects twice as many as Conner did on the first day. How many does Conner have to collect on day three to make sure he at least ties Sydney?
[Answer]: On day one Conner collects 32 rocks because 8 x 4 = 32. On day three Sydney collects 64 because 32 x 2 = 64. After three days Sydney has 915 rocks because 837 + 0 + 4 + 64 = 905. Before the third day Conner has 878 because 723 + 32 + 123 = 878. Conner needs to collect 37 on day three to tie Sydney because 905 - 878 = 27.
So the answer is 27.

[Question]: Stephanie is decorating 24 cupcakes for a birthday party, but she needs more candles. She currently has a total of 30 candles. She wants to decorate half of the cupcakes with 1 candle each and the other half of the cupcakes with 2 candles each. How many additional candles does Stephanie need to complete the cupcakes?
[Answer]: For half of the cupcakes, Stephanie wants to use 1 candle each. Since half of the cupcakes is 24 / 2 and she plans to use 1 candle each for this half of the cupcakes, Stephanie needs (24 / 2) * 1 = 12 candles for this half of the cupcakes. For the other half of the cupcakes, Stephanie wants to use 2 candles. Therefore, she will need (24 / 2) * 2 = 24 candles for this half of the cupcakes. Because Stephanie needs 12 candles for half of the cupcakes and 24 candles for the other half, she needs a total of 12 + 24 = 36 candles. Since Stephanie needs 36 candles to decorate all the cupcakes and she currently has 30 candles, Stephanie needs 36 - 30 = 6 additional candles.
So the answer is 6.

[Question]: Mary has 26 blue shirts and 36 brown shirts. If she gives away half of her blue shirts and a third of her brown shirts, how many shirts does she have left?
[Answer]:
Mary gives away 26 / 2 = 13 blue shirts. Mary gives away 36 / 3 = 12 brown shirts. Mary has 26 - 13 = 13 blue shirts left. Mary has 36 - 12 = 24 brown shirts left. Mary has 13 + 24 = 37 shirts left.
So the answer is 37.