Alyssa used half of the candles, which is 1 / 2 * 40 = 20 candles. The number of candles that remained is 40 - 20 = 20. Chelsea used 70% of the remaining candles, a total of 70 / 100 * 20 = 14 candles. The total number of candles in the room now is 40 - 20 - 14 = 6.
The answer: 6
Reverse engineering the question: Alyssa and Chelsea jointly bought 40 candles to decorate their room. Alyssa used half of them, and Chelsea used 70% of the remaining candles. How many candles are there in the room now?


Reasoning and answer: First find the total amount of time Marcus spends blow - drying his dog: 20 minutes / 2 = 10 minutes. Then find the time Marcus spends walking: 3 miles / 6 miles / hour = .5 hours. Then convert that time to minutes: .5 hours * 60 minutes / hour = 30 minutes. Then add up the time Marcus spends washing, drying and walking to find the total time: 10 minutes + 20 minutes + 30 minutes = 60 minutes.
The answer: 60
What was the question?
Question: Marcus spends 20 minutes giving his dog a bath and half as long blow-drying her. Then he takes her for a walk along a 3-mile trail. If Marcus walks at 6 miles per hour, how much time does he spend with his dog total?


Sherry needs to make 33 batches of banana bread to make enough loaves because 99 / 3 = 33. Therefore, Sherry needs 33 bananas because there is 1 banana in each batch.
The answer: 33
Reverse engineering the question: Sherry is making banana bread for a bake sale. She wants to make 99 loaves. Her recipe makes enough batter for 3 loaves. The recipe calls for 1 banana. How many bananas does Sherry need?


Reasoning and answer: Half as many cougars as lions and tigers combined is (12 + 14) / 2 = 13. Then the total number of big cats at the feline sanctuary is 12 + 14 + 13 = 39.
The answer: 39
What was the question?
Question: At the feline sanctuary, there were 12 lions, 14 tigers, and several cougars. If there were half as many cougars as lions and tigers combined, then what was the total number of big cats at the feline sanctuary?


Four times Zion's age is 8 x 4 = 32. So Zion's dad is 32 + 3 = 35 years old. In 10 years, Zion will be 8 + 10 = 18 years old. In 10 years, Zion's dad will be 35 + 10 = 45 years old. Hence, in 10 years, Zion's dad will be 45 - 18 = 27 years older than Zion.
The answer: 27
Reverse engineering the question: Zion is 8 years old and his dad is 3 more than 4 times his age. In 10 years, how many years older is Zion's dad than him?


On Monday, there were 50 visitors. On Tuesday, there were twice as many, so 2 * 50 = 100 visitors. The total number of visitors after Tuesday will be 100 + 50 = 150 visitors. For the remaining 5 days, an average of 20 visitors attended, giving a total of 5 * 20 = 100 visitors. The total number of visitors who visited the library for the week was 100 + 150 = 250 visitors.
The answer: 250
Reverse engineering the question:
Jenny's local library received 50 visitors on Monday. On Tuesday, the library received twice that number. On the remaining days of the week, an average of 20 visitors went to the library. What's the total number of visitors who went to the library that week?