If Patricia has 4 barrels and each barrel has 7 gallons, then in total she needs 4 * 7 = 28 gallons. If the faucet can provide 3.5 gallons every minute, then she will need 28 / 3.5 = 8 minutes to fill all 4 barrels.
The answer: 8
Reverse engineering the question: Patricia has 4 barrels of 7 gallons each. All of them are empty, and there's only one faucet with a flow rate of 3.5 gallons per minute. How many minutes will it take to fill all 4 barrels?


Reasoning and answer: We know Eric has 4 stars and Chad has twice that amount, so Chad has 4 x 2 = 8 stars. Then Chad sells 2 of them to Jeff, so Chad has 8 – 2 = 6 stars. Altogether, Eric has 4 + Chad has 6 + Jeff has 6 = 16 stars.
The answer: 16
What was the question?
Question: Eric has 4 ninja throwing stars. His friend Chad has twice as many. Then Jeff bought 2 ninja stars from Chad. Jeff now has 6 throwing stars. How many ninja throwing stars do they have altogether?


One jar had 80 and the second jar had twice that amount so 2 * 80 = 160 marbles. The third jar had 1 / 4 of the first jar's 80 marbles so it had .25 * 80 = 20 marbles. When you add up all the jars, she had 80 + 160 + 20 = 260 marbles.
The answer: 260
Reverse engineering the question: Courtney liked to collect marbles. She kept them in mason jars. One jar had 80 marbles. Her second jar had twice that amount. She just started her third jar which currently has 1/4 the amount of her first jar. How many marbles does she have in total?


Reasoning and answer: Jacob earns $20 per hour * 10 hours = $200 for working. So he earns $4 each * 24 = $96 for the cookies. So far he has earned $200 + $96 = $296. He buys a lottery ticket so $296 - $10 = $286 was left in his money. After winning in a lottery, he had a total of $500 + $286 = $786. He gets $500 * 2 per sister = $1000 from her sisters. So he has so far $1000 + $786 = $1786. He needs $5000 - $1786 = $3214.
The answer: 3214
What was the question?
Question: Jacoby wants to save money for a trip to Brickville. He needs to have $5000 total to go on his trip. He works a job earning $20 per hour and works 10 hours. He then finds he can sell cookies for $4 each, and he sells 24 pieces of cookies. With the money he has so far, he buys a lottery ticket for $10 and wins $500. Finally, he gets $500 from both of his sisters as a gift. How much more, in dollars, does Jacob need to go to Brickville?


Let X be the number of years before Fouad's age doubles Ahmed's age. So (X + 11) * 2 = X + 26. So X * 2 + 22 = X + 26. So X = 26 - 22 = 4 years.
The answer: 4
Reverse engineering the question: Ahmed is 11 years old and Fouad is 26 years old. In how many years will Fouad's age be double Ahmed's current age?


First double the number of dogs with spots to find the total number of dogs: 15 dogs * 2 = 30 dogs. Then multiply that number by 1 / 5 to find the number that have pointy ears: 30 dogs * 1 / 5 = 6 dogs.
The answer: 6
Reverse engineering the question:
Madison takes her dog to the dog park. Counting Madison's dog, half the dogs have spots and 1/5 have pointy ears. If 15 dogs have spots, how many have pointy ears?