Q: On a school trip to the seashore, Alan and his friends collected shells. Alan collected four times as many shells as Ben did. Ben got a late start and only collected a third of what Laurie did. If Laurie collected 36 shells how many did Alan collect?
A: Ben collected 36 / 3 = 12 shells. Alan collected 12 * 4 = 48 shells. The answer is 48.

Q: Holly needs to take 2 insulin pills per day, 3 blood pressure pills per day, and twice as many anticonvulsants as blood pressure pills each day. How many pills does Holly take in a week?
A: First find the number of anticonvulsant pills Holly takes: 3 pills * 2 = 6 pills. Then find the total number of pills Holly takes each day: 6 pills + 2 pills + 3 pills = 11 pills. Then multiply that number by the number of days in a week to find the number of pills Holly takes each week: 11 pills / day * 7 days / week = 77 pills / week. The answer is 77.

Q: Nicole has 4 fish tanks. The first two tanks need 8 gallons of water each and the other two need 2 fewer gallons of water each than the first two tanks. If Nicole needs to change the water of the aquarium every week, how many gallons of water will she need in four weeks?
A:
The first two tanks need 8 x 2 = 16 gallons of water. The other two tanks need 8 - 2 = 6 gallons of water each. So, the two other tanks need 6 x 2 = 12 gallons of water. Nicole needs 16 + 12 = 28 gallons of water every week for her four tanks. Therefore, she needs a total of 28 x 4 = 112 gallons of water in four weeks. The answer is 112.