Reasoning and answer: Stephanie wants to get 5 each of each type of silverware for herself. 5 spoons + 5 butter knives + 5 steak knives + 5 forks = 20 pieces of silverware. She wants 10 extra of each type for guests, 10 x 4 = 40. She decides to purchase less of each type. She was originally purchasing 15 of each type. 15 spoons - 4 less spoons = 11 spoons. 15 butter knives - 4 less = 11. 15 steak knives - 5 = 10. 15 forks - 3 less forks = 12. Stephanie is going to purchase 11 spoons, 11 butter knives, 10 steak knives, and 12 forks. 11 + 11 + 10 + 12 = 44. Stephanie is going to purchase 44 pieces of silverware.
The answer: 44
What was the question?
Question: Stephanie is moving into a new apartment. She needs to figure out how many pieces of silverware she should purchase. She needs spoons, butter knives, steak knives, and forks. For herself she figures 5 of each would be sufficient. But in case she has guests, she wants to have 10 extra pieces of each type. Then she realizes that if everything is clean at the same time, that she will have too many of everything and not enough room to fit them in her kitchen silverware drawer. So she decides to purchase 4 fewer spoons, 4 fewer butter knives, 5 fewer steak knives, and 3 fewer forks. How many pieces total of all the silverware is Stephanie going to buy?


The cost of laundering all of Leo’s trousers is 10 * 9 = 90 dollars. Since the total bill was 140 dollars, this means that all the shirts were cleaned for 140 - 90 = 50 dollars. As each shirt is cleaned at 5 dollars, Sudsy Laundry therefore laundered a total of 50 / 5 = 10 shirts. The missing shirts are therefore 10 - 2 = 8 shirts.
The answer: 8
Reverse engineering the question: On Tuesday last week, Leo dropped off 10 pairs of trousers and some shirts at Sudsy Laundry. He was given a bill of $140, charged at $5 per shirt and $9 for each pair of trousers. When he went to pick up his clothes yesterday, the attendant insisted that he had only dropped off 2 shirts. Leo reported the matter to the manager, who ordered the attendant to search for the rest of Leo’s shirts. How many shirts were missing?


Reasoning and answer: Mary has 3 + 1 + 1 = 5 rooms in her house. At 4 minutes a room, it will take her 4 * 5 = 20 minutes to vacuum her whole house. At 10 minutes a charge, she will need to charge her vacuum cleaner 20 / 10 = 2 times to vacuum her whole house.
The answer: 2
What was the question?
Question: The battery charge in Mary’s cordless vacuum cleaner lasts ten minutes. It takes her four minutes to vacuum each room in her house. Mary has three bedrooms, a kitchen, and a living room. How many times does Mary need to charge her vacuum cleaner to vacuum her whole house?


Lucy needs to purchase 10 x 1.2 = 12 pounds of potato chips. So, Lucy will pay 12 x 25 = 300 cents for it. Since there are 100 cents in $1, thus, Lucy will pay 300 / 100 = 3 dollars.
The answer: 3
Reverse engineering the question: Lucy plans to purchase potato chips for a party. Ten people will be at the party, including Lucy. The potato chips cost 25 cents per pound. How much will Lucy pay (in dollars) for the potato chips if she wants each person to get 1.2 pounds?


Reasoning and answer: In 7 days, Jane sews 2 * 7 = 14 dresses. In the next 2 days, Jane sews 3 * 2 = 6 dresses. Jane sews a total of 14 + 6 = 20 dresses. Jane uses a total of 20 * 2 = 40 ribbons.
The answer: 40
What was the question?
Question: Jane sews 2 dresses a day for 7 days. Then she sews 3 dresses a day for the next 2 days. In the end, she adds 2 ribbons to each dress. How many ribbons does Jane use in total?


Reasoning and answer: On Trey's list there are 7 + 1 + 4 things to do = 12 things to do in total. Each thing takes 10 minutes to do, so 10 minutes x 12 things = 120 minutes. An hour has 60 minutes in it, so 120 minutes / 60 minutes in an hour = 2 total hours it will take Trey to complete his list.
The answer: 2
What was the question?
Question:
On Sunday Trey is going to do some chores at home. First, he wants to make a To Do list and count up how many things he has to do that day and how long it should take. He has several items under 'clean the house,' 'take a shower' and then 'make dinner.' In total there are 7 things to do to clean the house; 1 thing to do to take a shower; and 4 things to do to make dinner. If everything on Trey's list takes 10 minutes to do, how many hours total will it take to complete Trey's list?