Question: Lady Bird uses 1 1/4 cup flour to make 9 biscuits. She's hosting this month's Junior League club which has 18 members and wants to make sure she allows 2 biscuits per guest. How many cups of flour will Lady Bird need?
Answer with step-by-step thinking: There will be 18 members and she wants to allow 2 biscuits per member so that's 18 * 2 = 36 biscuits. Her biscuit recipe yields 9 biscuits and she needs to make 36 biscuits so she needs to make 36 / 9 = 4 batches of biscuits. 1 batch of biscuits uses 1 1 / 4 cup flour and she needs to make 4 batches so she will use 1.25 * 4 = 5 cups of flour.
So the answer is 5.

Question: 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?
Answer with step-by-step thinking: 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.
So the answer is 12000.

Question: Jeremy is driving 600 miles to visit his parents. His average speed for this trip is 50 miles per hour. Every two hours of driving, he makes a rest stop for 15 minutes. His car gets 18 miles per gallon of gas, and his gas indicator comes on when he's used 15 gallons, at which point he stops to refill, which takes 10 minutes. How long, in minutes, does he take to get to his parents' house, if he starts out with a full tank of gas?
Answer with step-by-step thinking:
Jeremy is driving 600 miles, at an average speed of 50 miles per hour, so he will be driving for 600 miles / 50 miles per hour = 12 hours * 60 minutes per hour = 720 minutes. He makes a rest stop every 2 hours of driving, at 2, 4, 6, 8 & 10 hours in = 5 rest stops on the trips. Each rest stop takes 15 minutes so he will spend 5 rest stops * 15 minutes per rest stop = 75 minutes on rest stops. His car gets 18 miles to the gallon, and he stops to refill every 15 gallons, so he will stop to refill every 18 miles per gallon * 15 gallons = 270 miles. 600 miles / 270 miles per refuel = 2.22 refuels, so he'll only make 2 refuels during the trip. He will spend 2 refuels * 10 minute per refuel = 20 minutes refueling his car. In total he will take 720 minutes driving + 75 minutes resting + 20 minutes refueling = 815 minutes.
So the answer is 815.