Reasoning and answer: He needed 2 boxes of candles, because 5 / 2.5 = 2. He needed 24 candles because 2 x 12 = 24. He is 8 because 24 / 3 = 8.
The answer: 8
What was the question?
Question: Kerry is ready to celebrate his birthday and wants to have three cakes with his age in candles on each of them. Candles come in boxes of 12 and cost $2.5 a box. If the candles cost $5, how old is Kerry?


Lou Sr 3 cookies from the jar, then another three, but then put two back, for a total of 3 + 3 - 2 = 4 cookies removed. Louie Jr took seven more out of the jar, for a total of 4 + 7 = 11 cookies removed. If Debra thought half were gone, then the number of missing cookies would equal the number of cookies that remain, or 11 missing = 11 remaining cookies.
The answer: 11
Reverse engineering the question: Lou Senior took 3 cookies out of the cookie jar and ate them. Since he didn't get caught by his wife, he went back the next day and took another 3 cookies out of the jar. But after eating just one of the cookies, he felt guilty about it and put the other two cookies back. His son, Louie Junior saw that his Dad was eating cookies. So, Louie Junior took seven cookies out of the jar and hid them in his bedroom for later. The next morning, Debra, Lou's wife looked into the cookie jar and reacted by accusing her husband of eating half of the cookies out of the cookie jar. How many cookies remained in the jar?


Reasoning and answer: First figure out how many times the alligator population doubles in one year by dividing the number of months in a year by the number of months it takes the population to double: 12 months / 6 months = 2. The alligator population doubles twice. Now double the alligator population once: 4 alligators * 2 = 8 alligators. Now double it again: 8 alligators * 2 = 16 alligators.
The answer: 16
What was the question?
Question: There are 4 alligators living on a golf course in Florida. If the number of alligators doubles every six months, how many alligators will there be at the end of a year?


Heather has sewn 13 x 3 = 39 aprons today. The total number of aprons sewn is 13 + 39 = 52. Heather needs to sew 150 - 52 = 98 aprons more. So, she needs to sew 98 / 2 = 49 aprons tomorrow.
The answer: 49
Reverse engineering the question: Heather is going to sew 150 aprons that are to be used for a kiddie crew program. She already was able to sew 13 aprons, and today, she sewed three times as many aprons. How many aprons should she sew tomorrow if she wants to sew half of the remaining number of aprons needed?


Reasoning and answer: After doubling he was able to hold 80 * 2 = 160 kg per hand. Specialization gave him another 160 * .1 = 16 kg. So he lifted 160 + 16 = 176 kg per hand. That means he lifted a total of 352 kg.
The answer: 352
What was the question?
Question: Tom originally was only able to lift 80 kg farmer handles per hand. After some training, he was able to double this number. He then decided to specialize and was able to get an extra 10%. How much weight can he hold in total?


Reasoning and answer: Randy spends 2 * 4 = 8 dollars every month. Randy spends 8 * 12 = 96 dollars in a year. Randy had 96 + 104 = 200 dollars in his piggy bank at first.
The answer: 200
What was the question?
Question:
Randy has some money in his piggy bank. He spends 2 dollars every time he goes to the store. He makes 4 trips to the store every month. If he had $104 dollars left in his piggy bank after a year, how much money, in dollars, did he have at first?