[Question]Adam bought 3 kilograms of nuts and 2.5 kilograms of dried fruits at a store. One kilogram of nuts costs $12 and one kilogram of dried fruit costs $8. How much did his purchases cost?
[Answer]For the nuts Adam paid 3 * $12 = $36. And for dried fruits Adam paid 2.5 * $8 = $20. So in total for his purchases Adam paid $36 + $20 = $56. The answer is 56.

[Question]Brittany uses 1/4 ounce of shampoo to wash her hair every other day. She buys shampoo in 14-ounce bottles. How many bottles does she need to get her through a leap year?
[Answer]A leap year is one day shorter than a regular year, so it is 365 – 1 = 364 days. Brittany washes her hair every other day, so she will wash it 364 / 2 = 182 times in a leap year. A bottle of shampoo lasts her 14 / 1 / 4 = 14 * 4 = 56 washes. If she buys 3 bottles, she will only have enough for 56 * 3 = 168 washes. If she buys 4 bottles, she will have enough for 56 * 4 = 224 washes. Since 168 < 182 and 224 > 182, Brittany needs 4 bottles of shampoo to get her through a leap year. The answer is 4.

[Question]Ishmael was monitoring whales out at sea for conservation purposes. Each time he takes a trip to sea, he sees a different group of whales. On his first trip, he counts 28 male whales and twice as many female whales. On his second trip, he sees 8 baby whales, each travelling with their parents. On his third trip, he counts half as many male whales as the first trip and the same number of female whales as on the first trip. In total, how many whales were out at sea during Ishmael’s monitoring?
[Answer]On the first trip, Ishmael sees 28 male whales * 2 = 56 female whales. So in total, he sees 28 male whales + 56 female whales = 84 whales on the first trip. On the second trip, each baby whale travels with its parents which means it travels in a group of 1 baby whale + 2 parents = 3 whales / baby whale. This means there are 8 baby whales * 3 whales / baby whale = 24 whales on the second trip. On the third trip, there are half as many male whales as there were on the first trip, so there must be 28 male whales / 2 = 14 male whales. Adding this to the female whales means he saws 14 males whales + 56 female whales = 70 whales on the third trip. In total, Ishmael saw 84 + 24 + 70 = 178 whales across the three trips. The answer is 178.

[Question]Amy bought a 15-foot spool of string to cut up into wicks for making candles.  If she cuts up the entire string into an equal number of 6-inch and 12-inch wicks, what is the total number of wicks she will have cut?
[Answer]
15 feet of string is 15 * 12 = 180 inches long. If for every 6 - inch wick she also cuts a 12 - inch wick, then the pair of wicks are 6 + 12 = 18 inches long. Thus, in 180 inches of string, she can cut 180 / 18 = 10 pairs of wicks. 10 pairs of wicks are a total of 10 * 2 = 20 wicks. The answer is 20.