Coleen loved sprinkles. At the beginning of the day, she had twelve cans of sprinkles. After applying sprinkles to her hair, her clothing and her pets, she had 3 less than half as many cans of sprinkles as she started out with. How many cans of sprinkles remained?
Let's think: Half of twelve cans of sprinkles is 12 / 2 = 6 cans. Three less than half as many cans of sprinkles is 6 - 3 = 3 cans of sprinkles.. The answer is: 3.

A dragon hoards jewels and gold in its cave. A jealous king snuck in and stole three prize jewels. The dragon burned him to a crisp and stole back its jewels, along with twice as many of the king's crown jewels from his crown that melted in the dragon's fire. The new jewels were a third of the number of jewels the dragon had owned before. How many jewels did the dragon own in the end?
Let's think: The dragon stole 2 * 3 = 6 of the king's crown jewels. The dragon owned 6 * 3 = 18 jewels before the theft. Thus, the dragon owned 18 + 6 = 24 jewels in the end.. The answer is: 24.

Harper has 15 rubber bands. His brother has 6 fewer rubber bands than he has. How many rubber bands do they have together?
Let's think: His brother has 15 rubber bands - 6 rubber bands = 9 rubber bands. They have 15 rubber bands + 9 rubber bands = 24 rubber bands together.. The answer is: 24.

Pete has a bag with 10 marbles. 40% are blue and the rest are red. His friend will trade him two blue marbles for every red one. If Pete keeps 1 red marble, how many total marbles does he have after trading with his friend?
Let's think:
He starts with 4 blue marbles because 10 x .4 = 4. 60% of the marbles are red because 100 - 40 = 60. He has 6 red marbles because 10 x .6 = 6. He trades 5 red marbles because 6 - 1 = 5. He gets 10 blue marbles because 5 x 2 = 10. He has 15 marbles now because 4 + 1 + 10 = 15.. The answer is: 15.