The price is $3 per piece, or buy 4 pieces & get one free.
I told the young person behind the counter that I wanted 15 pieces, and she began methodically filling up the boxes. Methodically .... and .... slowly. At some point in this process, possibly thinking I could speed things along, I said, "So that's $36, right?"
And she said "No." She didn't seem to be exactly sure how much 15 pieces would be, but she didn't think it was going to be $36.
I said, "You get 1 free with each 4, right?"
"So I'm paying for 12 pieces and getting 3 pieces free."
She looked confused. I went over it again, but she still didn't think $36 sounded right.
Finally I said, "I want to buy 3 boxes of fudge, with 4 pieces in each box and 1 extra free piece," and that did the trick. Twelve dollars a box.
I don't think she knew how to work backwards from "15 pieces of fudge" to 12 pieces of fudge at $3/each + 3 extra free pieces.
Meanwhile, here are the "mathematical practices" required by the new Common Core standards (pdf file) for Kindergarten:
1. Make sense of problems and persevere in solving them.
2. Reason abstractly and quantitatively.
3. Construct viable arguments and critique the reasoning of others.
4. Model with mathematics.
5. Use appropriate tools strategically.
6. Attend to precision.
7. Look for and make use of structure.
* Have I mentioned the fact that I've de-veganed myself? Well, I have.