Question: Mitchell is trying to chew as many pieces of gum at once as he can. He has 8 packets of gum, There are 7 pieces in each. If he chews all the gum except for 2 pieces, how many pieces does he chew at once?
Answer: Step-by-step reasoning process: The packets have 56 pieces in total because 8 x 7 = 56. He chews 54 pieces because 56 - 2 = 54.
So the answer is 54.

Question: Leila eats cake almost every week. Last week, she ate 6 cakes on Monday, 9 cakes on Friday, and on Saturday, she ate triple the number of cakes she ate on Monday. How many cakes does Leila eat?
Answer: Step-by-step reasoning process: Combining Monday and Friday, Leila ate 6 + 9 = 15 cakes. On Saturday, she ate 6 * 3 = 18 cakes. Altogether, Leila ate 15 + 18 = 33 cakes.
So the answer is 33.

Question: Mrs. Thompson bought 3 chickens for $3 each. She also bought a bag of potatoes. Mrs. Thompson paid $15 in total. How much did the potatoes cost?
Answer: Step-by-step reasoning process: The 3 chickens amount to $3 x 3 = $9. Hence, the potatoes cost $15 - $9 = $6.
So the answer is 6.

Question: Derek is watching the construction cranes downtown and is trying to figure out how much taller they have to be than the building they are building. He sees one crane that is 228 feet tall finishing a building that was 200 feet tall. He sees another that is 120 feet tall finishing a building that is 100 feet tall. The final crane he sees is 147 feet tall, finishing a building that is 140 feet tall. On average, what percentage taller are the cranes than the building?
Answer:
Step-by-step reasoning process: The first crane is 14 percent taller because if 200 + 200x = 228 then x = .14. The second crane is 20 percent taller because if 100 + 100x = 120 then x = .2. The third crane is 5 percent taller because if 140 + 140x = 147 then x = .5. The total percent is 39 because 14 + 20 + 5 = 39. The average percent greater the height of the crane is than the building is 13 because 39 / 3 = 13.
So the answer is 13.