Question: Melanie is making meatballs for dinner. The recipe calls for breadcrumbs. To make the breadcrumbs Melanie is going to tear 2 slices of bread into smaller pieces and then add them to a blender to grind them into fine crumbs. First she tears the bread slices each in half, then tears those halves in half. How many bread pieces is Melanie going to put into the blender?
Answer with step-by-step thinking: Melanie starts with 1 slice of bread that she tears in half, making 2 halves. She takes both of those halves and tears them each in half, 2 halves x 2 more halves in half = 4 pieces per slice of bread. Melanie is using 2 slices of bread x 4 pieces each = 8 pieces overall to add to the blender.
So the answer is 8.


Question: Tom hasn't been sleeping well lately. He figures he has been getting about 5 hours of sleep each weeknight and 6 hours each night on the weekend. If Tom would ideally like to get 8 hours of sleep each night on both weeknights and weekends, how many hours of sleep is Tom behind on from the last week?
Answer with step-by-step thinking: Tom ideally wants to sleep 8 hours a night for 7 days, 8 x 7 = 56 hours sleep total for the week. Tom has actually only slept 5 hours each weeknight, 5 x 5 = 25 hours of sleep. Tom has only slept 6 hours each night on the weekend, 6 x 2 = 12 hours of sleep. Total, Tom has gotten 25 + 12 hours = 37 hours sleep. The difference between how many hours Tom would like to sleep, 56, and how many hours he's actually slept, 37, is 56 - 37 = 19 hours of sleep that Tom is behind on.
So the answer is 19.


Question: Rosie pays for a $.44 piece of candy with a $1 bill. If the cashier gives her the smallest number of coins possible as change, how many coins will Rosie get as change?
Answer with step-by-step thinking:

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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Rosie will get $1 - $.44 = $.56 in change. She will get 2 quarters to account for $.50 of the change. She will also get 1 nickel to account for $.05 of the change. Then, she will get 1 penny, to account for the last $.01 of the change. She will get 2 + 1 + 1 = 4 coins total.
So the answer is 4.