Stephanie is moving into a new apartment. She needs to figure out how many pieces of silverware she should purchase. She needs spoons, butter knives, steak knives, and forks. For herself she figures 5 of each would be sufficient. But in case she has guests, she wants to have 10 extra pieces of each type. Then she realizes that if everything is clean at the same time, that she will have too many of everything and not enough room to fit them in her kitchen silverware drawer. So she decides to purchase 4 fewer spoons, 4 fewer butter knives, 5 fewer steak knives, and 3 fewer forks. How many pieces total of all the silverware is Stephanie going to buy? Think carefully first, then make a decision:
Stephanie wants to get 5 each of each type of silverware for herself. 5 spoons + 5 butter knives + 5 steak knives + 5 forks = 20 pieces of silverware. She wants 10 extra of each type for guests, 10 x 4 = 40. She decides to purchase less of each type. She was originally purchasing 15 of each type. 15 spoons - 4 less spoons = 11 spoons. 15 butter knives - 4 less = 11. 15 steak knives - 5 = 10. 15 forks - 3 less forks = 12. Stephanie is going to purchase 11 spoons, 11 butter knives, 10 steak knives, and 12 forks. 11 + 11 + 10 + 12 = 44. Stephanie is going to purchase 44 pieces of silverware. So, the answer is 44.