Q: Jessie's community built a new hedge. Each section of the hedge used 30 pieces of concrete blocks that cost $2 per piece. The hedge has eight sections. How much did they spend on the concrete blocks?
A: They used 30 x 8 = 240 concrete blocks for the eight sections. So, they spent 240 x $2 = $480 on the concrete blocks. The answer is 480.

Q: Xena is trying to outrun a dragon to get to the safety of a cave it's too big to fit into. Xena has a 600 foot head start, but the dragon can burn her if it gets within 120 feet of her. If Xena runs 15 feet per second and the dragon flies 30 feet per second, how many seconds does Xena have to get to the cave?
A: First find the size of the gap the dragon needs to close to burn Xena: 600 ft - 120 ft = 480 ft. Then find how many feet closer the dragon gets each second by subtracting Xena's speed from the dragon's speed: 30 ft / sec - 15 ft / sec = 15 ft / sec. Then divide the distance by the speed difference to find how many seconds it takes for the dragon to get close enough to burn Xena: 480 ft / 15 ft / sec = 32 sec. The answer is 32.

Q: Harper drinks a 1/2 bottle of mineral water per day. She buys the mineral water by the case at a big box store. They come 24 bottles to a case and are currently on sale for $12.00. If she wants to buy enough cases to last her 240 days, how much will she spend?
A:
She drinks 1 / 2 bottle a day and there are 24 bottles in a case so a case will last 24 / .5 = 48 days. She needs enough to last her 240 days and 1 case will last her 48 days so she needs 240 / 48 = 5 cases. Each case is on sale for $12.00 and she needs 5 cases so that's 12 * 5 = $60.00. The answer is 60.