A big snowstorm caused a large amount of snow to fall onto Grandpa's farm, and the wind caused the snow to pile up into a drift. But on the second day, it warmed up enough that half of the snowdrift melted. The third day, it snowed again, adding another 6 inches of snow onto the snowdrift. On the fourth day, another 18 inches of snow fell onto the snowdrift. If the snowdrift was 34 inches deep at the end of the fourth day, how deep in inches was the drift at the end of the first day? Give the rationale and then the answer.
Let's think step by step. The third and fourth day contributed 6 + 18 = 24 inches to the depth of the snowdrift. Therefore, the size of the snowdrift after half was melted on the second day, but before the snowfall on the third and fourth day, was 34 - 24 = 10 inches. If the size of the drift on the second day, after half of the snow had melted, was 10 inches, then the depth of the original drift created on day 1 was 2 * 10 = 20 inches deep.. The answer is: 20.

Sonja makes her own peanut butter with peanuts and oil in a blender. She uses a ratio of two ounces of oil to smooth out every eight ounces of peanuts. Her last batch of peanut butter weighed 20 ounces. How many ounces of oil did she use? Give the rationale and then the answer.
Let's think step by step. Sonja uses 2 ounces of oil for 8 ounces of peanuts to make 2 + 8 = 10 ounces of peanut butter. Her last batch weighed 20 ounces, so she made 20 / 10 = 2 times her ratio. Thus, she used 2 * 2 = 4 ounces of oil.. The answer is: 4.

John has to pay taxes. He earned $100,000 for the year. He has $30,000 in deductions. The first $20,000 of taxable income is taxed at 10%. The rest is taxed at 20%. How much does he pay in taxes? Give the rationale and then the answer.
Let's think step by step. His taxable income is 100,000 - 30,000 = $70,000. So he pays 20,000 * .1 = $2000 tax at the lower rate. He has to pay 70,000 - 20,000 = $50,000 at the higher rate. The taxes for that is 50,000 * .2 = $10,000. So his total tax bill is 10,000 + 2,000 = $12,000.. The answer is: 12000.