Michael has used a total of 30 matchstick houses * 10 matchsticks per matchstick house = 300 matchsticks. As he only used half of his collection for crafting, he must have originally had 300 matchsticks * 2 = 600 matchsticks.
The answer: 600
Reverse engineering the question: Michael has a lot of matchsticks at home and decides to use them to make miniature models. As he is about to start crafting, he has second thoughts and decides to only use half of his pile of matchsticks. He creates 30 matchsticks houses. If he has now used all of the matchsticks he intended to and each matchstick house uses 10 matchsticks, how many matchsticks did Michael have originally?


Reasoning and answer: Last year: 86 geckos. 2 years ago: 86(2) = 172. Total number of geckos sold 86 + 172 = 258 geckos.
The answer: 258
What was the question?
Question: Brandon sold 86 geckos last year. He sold twice that many the year before. How many geckos has Brandon sold in the last two years?


The first crane is 14 percent taller because if 200 + 200x = 228 then x = .14. The second crane is 20 percent taller because if 100 + 100x = 120 then x = .2. The third crane is 5 percent taller because if 140 + 140x = 147 then x = .5. The total percent is 39 because 14 + 20 + 5 = 39. The average percent greater the height of the crane is than the building is 13 because 39 / 3 = 13.
The answer: 13
Reverse engineering the question: Derek is watching the construction cranes downtown and is trying to figure out how much taller they have to be than the building they are building. He sees one crane that is 228 feet tall finishing a building that was 200 feet tall. He sees another that is 120 feet tall finishing a building that is 100 feet tall. The final crane he sees is 147 feet tall, finishing a building that is 140 feet tall. On average, what percentage taller are the cranes than the building?


Reasoning and answer: Half the people at the party is 16 / 2 = 8 people. 8 people at the party eat 1 1 / 2 rolls each, 8 x 1 1 / 2 = 12 dinner rolls eaten. 8 people at the party eat 1 / 2 a roll each, 8 x 1 / 2 = 4 dinner rolls eaten. Combined, the people at the party ate 12 + 4 = 16 dinner rolls. There were originally 40 dinner rolls - 16 that got eaten = 24 dinner rolls leftover.
The answer: 24
What was the question?
Question: There are 16 people at a dinner party. There are 40 dinner rolls available for them. Half the people eat 1 1/2 rolls each. The other half eat 1/2 a roll each. How many dinner rolls are leftover?


Bert was able to earn 8 x $18 = $144 for the toy phones. While Tory was able to earn 7 x $20 = $140 for the toy guns. Therefore, Bert was able to earn $144 – $140 = $4 more than Tory.
The answer: 4
Reverse engineering the question: Bert was able to sell 8 toy phones for $18 each, while Tory was able to sell 7 toy guns for $20 each. How much more did Bert earn than Tory?


Since 40% of his students got below B, 100% - 40% = 60% of Mr. Sanchez's students got B and above. Thus, 60 x 60 / 100 = 36 students got B and above in their final grade.
The answer: 36
Reverse engineering the question:
Mr. Sanchez found out that 40% of his Grade 5 students got a final grade below B. How many of his students got a final grade of B and above if he has 60 students in Grade 5?