A rectangle has a length of 3 inches and a width of 6 inches. A square has a width of 5 inches. What is the difference in area between the two shapes?
Let's think: The area of the rectangle is 3 x 6 = 18 sq in. The area of the square is 5 x 5 = 25 sq in. The difference is 25 - 18 = 7 sq in.. The answer is: 7.

Timmy plans to ride a skateboard ramp that is 50 feet high. He knows he needs to go 40 mph at the start to make it all the way to the top. He measures his speed on three trial runs and goes 36, 34, and 38 mph. How much faster does he have to go than his average speed to make it up the ramp?
Let's think: His total speed from the trials is 108 because 36 + 34 + 38 = 108. His average speed was 36 mph because 108 / 3 = 36. He needs to go 4 mph faster to make it to the top because 40 - 36 = 4.. The answer is: 4.

Charley bought 30 pencils. She lost 6 pencils while moving to school, and of course, also lost 1/3 of the remaining pencils because she wasn't very good at keeping track of pencils. How many pencils does she currently have?
Let's think: If Charley bought 30 pencils and lost 6 while moving, she remained with 30 - 6 = 24 pencils. Because she isn't good at keeping track of her pencils, Charley lost 1 / 3 * 24 = 8 more pencils. She currently has 24 - 8 = 16 pencils.. The answer is: 16.

Stephanie is decorating 24 cupcakes for a birthday party, but she needs more candles. She currently has a total of 30 candles. She wants to decorate half of the cupcakes with 1 candle each and the other half of the cupcakes with 2 candles each. How many additional candles does Stephanie need to complete the cupcakes?
Let's think:

Show your work and conclude with the exact phrasing "Therefore, the final answer is [answer]." where [answer] is just the final number or expression that solves the problem.
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For half of the cupcakes, Stephanie wants to use 1 candle each. Since half of the cupcakes is 24 / 2 and she plans to use 1 candle each for this half of the cupcakes, Stephanie needs (24 / 2) * 1 = 12 candles for this half of the cupcakes. For the other half of the cupcakes, Stephanie wants to use 2 candles. Therefore, she will need (24 / 2) * 2 = 24 candles for this half of the cupcakes. Because Stephanie needs 12 candles for half of the cupcakes and 24 candles for the other half, she needs a total of 12 + 24 = 36 candles. Since Stephanie needs 36 candles to decorate all the cupcakes and she currently has 30 candles, Stephanie needs 36 - 30 = 6 additional candles.. The answer is: 6.