Question: Barry has $10.00 worth of dimes. His little brother, Dan has half that amount but finds 2 more dimes on his way home from school. How many dimes does Dan have?
Answer with step-by-step thinking: Dimes are worth $0.10 and Barry has $10.00 worth of dimes so he has 10 / .10 = 100 dimes. Dan has half the amount of dimes as Barry so Dan has 100 / 2 = 50 dimes. Dan finds 2 more dimes on his way home so he now has 50 + 2 = 52 dimes.
So the answer is 52.


Question: Since Jason started investing, he has earned the same amount he invested twice over in 5 months. If Jason's investment currently is worth $90, how much has he been earning per month from his investment assuming he has been earning an equal amount of returns each month?
Answer with step-by-step thinking: Let's say Jason invested x amount of money. Since Jason started investing, he has earned the same amount he invested twice over in 5 months, meaning he has earned x + 2 * x = $90. This evaluates to 3x = $90. The total amount of money that Jason invested is x = $90 / 3. Jason invested x = $30. The total amount of money that Jason has earned from his investments is $90 - $30 = $60. If he earned an equal amount of money from the investment in five months, his monthly returns is 60 / 5 = $12.
So the answer is 12.


Question: Missy had a giant piggy bank in her bedroom. Every day she would search the house for change to put in her bank. After 4 years, the bank was opened and it contained $450 in change. If the second, third, and fourth-year she doubled the amount of money she put in the bank from the amount she had put in the previous year, how much money, in dollars, did she put in the bank the first year?
Answer with step-by-step thinking:
We let x be the amount of money she put in the bank the first year,. Then the second year was 2 * x,. and the third year was 2 * 2 * x = 4 * x,. and the fourth year was 2 * 2 * 2 * x = 8 * x. And the total amount she put in the bank, $450, is the sum of all four years, or $450 = x + (2 * x) + (4 * x) + (8 * x). This simplifies to $450 = 15 * x. And therefore, the amount of money she put in the bank the first year was x = $30.
So the answer is 30.