A soccer ball takes twenty minutes to inflate. Alexia and Ermias are inflating balls, with Alexia inflating 20 balls and Ermias inflating 5 more balls than Alexia. Calculate the total time in minutes they took to inflate all the soccer balls.

How many minutes did Alexia take to inflate the soccer balls? ** To inflate a soccer ball, it takes 20 minutes, and if Alexia inflated 20 soccer balls, she took 20*20 =

<<20*20=400>>400 minutes. How many soccer balls does Ermias have? ** Ermias has 5 more soccer balls than Alexia, meaning she has a total of 20+5 = <<5+20=25>>25 soccer balls. How many minutes did Ermias take to inflate all the soccer balls she had? ** If each soccer ball takes 20 minutes to inflate, Ermias took 25*20 = <<25*20=500>>500 minutes to inflate all the soccer balls she had. How many minutes did Alexia and Ermias take to inflate all the soccer balls? ** Alexia and Ermias took 400+500 = <<400+500=900>>900 minutes to inflate all the soccer balls. #### 900 As soon as you enter the taxi, you pay a ride fee of $2. Michelle rode a taxi from her office to her home, which constitutes 4 miles. If the taxi charge per mile is $2.5, how much did pay Michelle pay in total for her ride? How much does the taxi charge for a distance of 4 miles? ** The taxi charge for a distance of 4 miles is 4 x $2.5 = $<<4*2.5=10>>10. How much did Michelle pay in total for her ride? ** The total amount that Michelle paid for the ride was $2 + $10 = $<<2+10=12>>12. #### 12 John cuts his grass to 2 inches. It grows .5 inches per month. When it gets to 4 inches he cuts it back down to 2 inches. It cost $100 to get his grass cut. How much does he pay per year? How many inches does John cut his grass? ** He cuts his grass 4-2=<<4-2=2>>2 inches How many months does John get his grass cut? ** So he gets it cut every 2/.5=<<2/.5=4>>4 months How many times does John get his grass cut? ** That means he gets it cut 12/4=<<12/4=3>>3 times a year How much does John pay per year? ** So he pays 100*3=$<<100*3=300>>300 per year #### 300 Karen is constantly trying to stop the raccoons from getting in her trash. The first lock she tries stalls them for 5 minutes. The next lock stalls them for 3 minutes less than three times as long as the first lock. When Karen tries both locks at once, it stalled the raccoons for five times as long as the second lock alone. How long is that? How long does the second lock stall them? ** First find how long the second lock stalls them: 5 minutes * 3 - 3 minutes = <<5*3-3=12>>12 minutes How long does the third lock stall them? ** Then multiply that amount by 5 to find the total time the third lock stall the raccoon: 12 minutes * 5 = <<12*5=60>>60 minutes #### 60 Brian is taping up some boxes. Each box needs three pieces of tape, one as long as the long side and two as long as the short side. If Brian tapes up 5 boxes that measure 15 inches by 30 inches and 2 boxes that measure 40 inches square, how much tape does he need? How many inches are the short sides? ** First find the amount of tape each 15 in x 30 in box needs on the short sides: 2 sides * 15 inches/side = <<2*15=30>>30 inches How many inches are the short sides? ** Then add that to the amount of tape each 15 in x 30 in box needs on the long side to find the total amount needed per box: 30 inches + 30 inches = <<30+30=60>>60 inches How many inches are the short sides? ** Then multiply that amount by 5 boxes to find the total amount needed: 60 inches/box * 5 boxes = 300 inches How many inches are the sides? ** Then find the amount of tape each 40 in x 40 in box needs for its three equal length sides: 3 sides * 40 inches/side = <<3*40=120>>120 inches How many inches are the sides? ** Then multiply that amount by 2 boxes to find the total amount needed: 120 inches/box * 2 boxes = 240 inches How many inches are the sides? ** Then add the total amount needed for each box size to find the grand total: 240 inches + 300 inches = <<240+300=540>>540 inches #### 540 Three friends agreed to pay an equal amount of money for buying 5 bags of chips. If they each pay $5, how much does each bag of chips cost? How much do the bags of chips cost? ** Five bags of chips cost $5 x 3 = $<<5*3=15>>15. How much does each bag of chips cost? ** So each bag of chips costs $15/5 = $<<15/5=3>>3. #### 3 Phil likes to collect baseball cards. He buys a pack of twenty each week for a year, but then loses half of them one day in a fire. How many baseball cards does Phil have left? How many cards does Phil start with? ** Since there are 20 cards in a pack and 52 weeks in a year, Phil starts by collecting 20*52= <<20*52=1040>>1040 baseball cards How many cards does Phil lose? ** He then loses half of them for 1040/2= <<1040/2=520>>520 cards remaining. #### 520 There were 30 women and 20 men who attended the party. After few hours, 2/5 of the total number of people left. If 9 men left the party, how many more women stayed at the party than men? How many people were at the party? ** There were 30 + 20 = <<30+20=50>>50 attendees at the party. How many people left the party? ** A total of 50 x 2/5 = <<50*2/5=20>>20 people left the party. How many men and women left the party? ** Nine of those who left were men while 20 - 9 = <<20-9=11>>11 of them were women. How many women stayed at the party? ** So, 30 - 11= <<30-11=19>>19 women stayed at the party. How many men stayed at the party? ** And 20 - 9 = <<20-9=11>>11 men stayed at the party. How many more women than men stayed at the party? ** Thus, 19 - 11 = <<19-11=8>>8 more women than men stayed at the party. #### 8 Bill is laying power cable for a new neighborhood. There are going to be 18 east-west streets that are 2 miles long and 10 north-south streets that are four miles long. It takes 5 miles of cable to electrify 1 mile of street. If cable costs $2000/mile, what is the total cost of cable for the neighborhood? How many miles are the east-west streets? ** First find the total distance of the east-west streets: 18 streets * 2 miles/street = <<18*2=36>>36 miles How many miles are the north-south streets? ** Then find the total distance of the north-south streets: 10 streets * 4 miles/street = <<10*4=40>>40 miles How many miles are the streets? ** Then add the number of miles from each type of street to find the total distance: 36 miles + 40 miles = <<36+40=76>>76 miles How many miles of cable are needed? ** Then multiply that number by 5 to find the number of miles of cable needed: 76 miles street * 5 miles cable/mile street = <<76*5=380>>380 miles of cable How much does the cable cost? ** Then multiply that number by the cost of one mile of cable to find the total cost: 380 miles * $2000/mile = $<<380*2000=760000>>760,000 #### 760000 Cynthia has three children whose ages add up to 35. Matthew is two years older than Rebecca and four years younger than Freddy. How many years old is Freddy? Define a variable ** Let A be Matthew’s age. How old is Rebecca? ** Rebecca is A - 2 years old. How old is Freddy? ** Freddy is A + 4 years old. Write an equation ** Their ages add up to 35, so A + A - 2 + A + 4 = 3A + 2 = 35. Simplify ** Therefore, 3A = 35 - 2 = 33. How old is Matthew? ** Matthew is A = 33 / 3 = <<33/3=11>>11 years old. How old is Freddy? ** Thus, Freddy is 11 + 4 = <<11+4=15>>15 years old. #### 15