Reasoning and answer: 12 + 5 + 5 + 2 = 24 minutes are accounted for. There are 30 - 24 = 6 minutes of ads.
The answer: 6
What was the question?
Question: The half-hour newscast includes 12 minutes of national news, 5 minutes of international news, 5 minutes of sports, and 2 minutes of weather forecasts. The rest is advertisements. How many minutes of advertising are in the newscast?


She spent 4 x $1.5 = $6 for the four bell peppers. She spent 2 x $3 = $6 for the 2 pounds of meat. So, Pauline spent $5 + $6 + $6 = $17 in all.
The answer: 17
Reverse engineering the question: Pauline will make tacos for dinner. She bought a box of taco shells that cost $5, 4 bell peppers that cost $1.5 each, and 2 pounds of meat that cost $3 per pound. How much did she spend in all?


Reasoning and answer: The cost Rachel should budget for her pair of shoes is $50 * 2 = $100. The cost Rachel should budget for her dress is $200 * 2 = $400. The total Rachel should budget is $100 + $400 = $500.
The answer: 500
What was the question?
Question: Rachel and Sara want to attend a beauty and modeling contest. They both want to buy new pairs of shoes and dresses. Sara buys a pair of shoes which costs $50 and a dress which costs $200. How much should Rachel budget if she wants to spend twice as much as what Sara spent on the pair of shoes and dress?


Valerie has to send a thank you card to each of 3 people, so she has 3 * 1 = 3 thank you cards to mail. She has 2 bills to mail. She has 3 more rebates than bills, so 3 + 2 = 5 mail - in rebates to mail. She has twice as many job applications as rebates, so she has 2 * 5 = 10 applications to mail. She has 3 + 2 + 5 + 10 = 20 pieces of mail to send. The electric bill needs an extra stamp, so she needs 20 + 1 = 21 stamps.
The answer: 21
Reverse engineering the question: Valerie needs to put stamps on the envelopes she is about to mail. She has thank you cards for each of her grandmother, uncle and aunt for the birthday presents they sent. She also has to pay the water bill and the electric bill separately. She wants to send three more mail-in rebates than she does bills and she has twice as many job applications as rebates to mail. How many stamps does she need if everything needs 1 stamp except the electric bill, which needs 2?


Reasoning and answer: Jean already bought 15 cupcakes x 4 packs = 60 cupcakes. She needs 100 - 60 = 40 more cupcakes. Thus, she needs to buy 40 / 10 = 4 packs of 10 cupcakes.
The answer: 4
What was the question?
Question: Cupcakes are sold in packages of 10 and 15. Jean bought 4 packs of 15 cupcakes. If she will give one cupcake each to 100 children in the orphanage, how many packs of 10 cupcakes should she need to buy?


Reasoning and answer: The total capacity of the 40 chairs was 40 * 2 = 80 people. If 2 / 5 of the chairs were unoccupied, 2 / 5 * 80 = 32 people missed the board meeting since the number of members was the same as the chair's capacity. The number of board members who attended the meeting was 80 - 32 = 48.
The answer: 48
What was the question?
Question:
In a conference room, 40 chairs with a capacity of 2 people each were arranged in rows in preparation for the board meeting of a company, whose number of members was the same as the chairs' capacity. If 2/5 of the chairs were not occupied, and the rest each had two people, calculate the number of board members who did attend the meeting.