Reasoning and answer: If it takes Moe 10 seconds to eat 40 cuttlebones, then in one second she eats 40 cuttlebones / 10 seconds = 4 cuttlebones / second. Since the cat eats 4 pieces of cuttlebone in 1 second, 800 pieces will be 800 cuttlebones / 4 cuttlebones / second = 200 seconds.
The answer: 200
What was the question?
Question: Susie's pet lizard Moe takes 10 seconds to eat 40 pieces of cuttlebone each day. How long would it take Moe to eat 800 pieces?


Since the word score after being tripled was 30 points, then the word score before tripling was 30 / 3 = 10 points. If before the word score was tripled, the first and third letters were each valued at one point apiece, then the value of the middle letter was 10 - 1 - 1 = 8 points.
The answer: 8
Reverse engineering the question: Jeremy loves to play Scrabble. He once played a three-letter word on a triple word score to earn thirty points. If before the word score was tripled, the first and third letters were each valued at one point apiece, how much was the middle letter valued at before the word score was tripled?


Reasoning and answer: Oliver’s Alien Baseball card collection has 48 / 3 = 16 cards. Oliver has twice as many Monster Club cards, so he has 16 * 2 = 32 Monster Club cards.
The answer: 32
What was the question?
Question: Oliver collects trading cards. He has twice as many Monster Club cards as Alien Baseball cards. His Battle Gremlins card collection is the largest at 48 cards, three times the size of his Alien Baseball card collection. How many Monster Club cards does Oliver have?


By adding Friday and Saturday, Alexandra bought 12 + 8 = 20 magazines. On Sunday she buys 8 * 4 = 32 magazines. Before her dog got to them she had 12 + 8 + 32 = 52 magazines. After her dog chewed up some she had 52 - 4 = 48 magazines.
The answer: 48
Reverse engineering the question: Alexandra bought 8 magazines at the bookstore on Friday. On Saturday, she went back and bought 12 more. Sunday morning, she saw that the store was having a sale and she bought four times the number of magazines she did on Friday. Later that day she discovered that her dog had chewed up 4 of the magazines. How many magazines does she have now?


Reasoning and answer: If the experienced sailors received 1 / 5 times more money than the inexperienced sailors, they were paid 1 / 5 * 10 = $2 more. The total hourly earnings for the experienced sailors each is $10 + $2 = $12. In a 60 - hour workweek, an experienced sailor is paid 60 * $12 = $720. In a month, an experienced sailor is paid 4 * $720 = $2880. If there were five inexperienced sailors, the total number of experienced sailors was 17 - 5 = 12. If each experienced sailor was paid $2280 per month, the total combined monthly earnings for the experienced is 12 * 2880 = $34560.
The answer: 34560
What was the question?
Question: A shipping boat's crew consisted of 17 sailors, with five inexperienced sailors. Each experienced sailor was paid 1/5 times more than the inexperienced sailors. If the inexperienced sailors were paid $10 per hour for a 60-hour workweek, calculate the total combined monthly earnings of the experienced sailors.


Reasoning and answer: Carl starts with 12 marbles to play with but loses 1 / 2, 12 / 2 = 6 marbles Carl didn't lose. Carl takes out 10 more marbles, 6 + 10 = 16 marbles. Then Carl's mother brings him 25 new marbles to add to the 16 he has out of his jar, 25 + 16 = 41 marbles that Carl is going to put in his jar after he plays his marbles game.
The answer: 41
What was the question?
Question:
Carl has a jar full of marbles. He takes out 12 marbles to play a game with, but he accidentally drops them and 1/2 the marbles get lost. So Carl takes out 10 more marbles. While he is playing his game his mother comes home with another bag of marbles for him, which has 25 marbles in it. If Carl can't find his lost marbles, then how many marbles is he going to put in the jar after he plays his game, from both his original marbles and the new ones?