Barbara is currently 16 years / 2 = 8 years old. Mike is going to be 24 years old after 24 years - 16 years = 8 years. So Barbara is going to be 8 years + 8 years = 16 years old.
The answer: 16
Reverse engineering the question: Mike is 16 years old. His sister Barbara is half as old as he is. How old is Barbara going to be when Mike is 24 years old?


Reasoning and answer: Each student got 62 + 43 = 105 pens to start with. They pooled them to get 105 * 3 = 315 pens in the pool. They took 37 pens in the first month, leaving 315 - 37 = 278 pens in the pool. They took 41 pens in the second month, leaving 278 - 41 = 237 pens in the pool. 237 pens were split into three equal parts to give 237 / 3 = 79 pens each.
The answer: 79
What was the question?
Question: Jane bought pens for her three students. Each student received 62 red pens and 43 black pens. They pooled their pens together and took them from the pool whenever they needed them. After the first month, they had taken a total of 37 pens from the pool. After the second month, they had taken another 41 pens from the pool. Then Jane decided to split the remaining pens equally among them. How many pens will each student get now?


Puppies cost three times more than parakeets, or 3 * $10 = $30 per puppy. Parakeets were half as expensive as the kittens, or 2 * $10 = $20 per kitten. Two puppies cost 2 * $30 = $60. Two kittens cost 2 * $20 = $40. And three parakeets cost 3 * $10 = $30. Thus, the cost to purchase all of the pets for sale at the pet shop is $60 + $40 + $30 = $130.
The answer: 130
Reverse engineering the question: Two puppies, two kittens, and three parakeets were for sale at the pet shop. The puppies were three times more expensive than the parakeets, and the parakeets were half as expensive as the kittens. If the cost of one parakeet was $10, what would it cost to purchase all of the pets for sale at the pet shop, in dollars?


Reasoning and answer: Edith has already organized 60 files / 2 = 30 files in the morning. She has files left to organize so she must still have 30 + 15 = 45 files in the office. This means there are 60 total files – 45 organized files = 15 missing files.
The answer: 15
What was the question?
Question: Edith is a receptionist at a local office and is organizing files into cabinets. She had 60 files and finished organizing half of them this morning. She has another 15 files to organize in the afternoon and the rest of the files are missing. How many files are missing?


Let Y be the number of cars needed to be added to the current monthly production. Then ((100 + Y) * 12) = 1800. So 1200 + 12 * Y = 1800. 12 * Y = 1800 - 1200 = 600. Y = 600 / 12 = 50.
The answer: 50
Reverse engineering the question: A car manufacturing company that produces 100 cars per month wants to increase its production to reach 1800 cars per year. How many cars should the company add to the monthly production rate to reach that target?


Alyssa and Abigail collected a total of 30 + 43 = 73 empty cans as of today. So, they still need to collect 100 - 73 = 27 more empty cans.
The answer: 27
Reverse engineering the question:
Alyssa and Abigail need to collect 100 empty cans for their Science project. As of today, Alyssa collected 30 while Abigail collected 43 empty cans. How many more empty cans should they collect?