Half of Taylor's house guests like weak coffee and the other half like strong coffee in the morning. Taylor uses 1 tablespoon of coffee per cup of water to make it weak and he doubles that amount to make it strong. If he makes 12 cups of both weak and strong coffee, how many tablespoons of coffee will he need? Think carefully first, then make a decision:
He uses 1 tablespoon for weak coffee and doubles that for strong so the strong uses 1 * 2 = 2 tablespoons. For the weak coffee he uses 1 tablespoon per 1 cup of water and he needs to make 12 cups so he'll use 1 * 12 = 12 tablespoons. For the strong coffee he uses 2 tablespoons per 1 cup of water and he needs to make 12 cups so he'll use 2 * 12 = 24 tablespoons. All total he will use 12 tablespoons for the weak coffee and 24 tablespoons for the strong coffee for a total of 12 + 24 = 36 tablespoons. So, the answer is 36.