examples of problem solving mathematics

Problem Solving in Mathematics

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The main reason for learning about math is to become a better problem solver in all aspects of life. Many problems are multistep and require some type of systematic approach. There are a couple of things you need to do when solving problems. Ask yourself exactly what type of information is being asked for: Is it one of addition, subtraction, multiplication , or division? Then determine all the information that is being given to you in the question.

Mathematician George Pólya’s book, “ How to Solve It: A New Aspect of Mathematical Method ,” written in 1957, is a great guide to have on hand. The ideas below, which provide you with general steps or strategies to solve math problems, are similar to those expressed in Pólya’s book and should help you untangle even the most complicated math problem.

Use Established Procedures

Learning how to solve problems in mathematics is knowing what to look for. Math problems often require established procedures and knowing what procedure to apply. To create procedures, you have to be familiar with the problem situation and be able to collect the appropriate information, identify a strategy or strategies, and use the strategy appropriately.

Problem-solving requires practice. When deciding on methods or procedures to use to solve problems, the first thing you will do is look for clues, which is one of the most important skills in solving problems in mathematics. If you begin to solve problems by looking for clue words, you will find that these words often indicate an operation.

Look for Clue Words

Think of yourself as a math detective. The first thing to do when you encounter a math problem is to look for clue words. This is one of the most important skills you can develop. If you begin to solve problems by looking for clue words, you will find that those words often indicate an operation.

Common clue words for addition  problems:

Common clue words for  subtraction  problems:

• How much more

Common clue words for multiplication problems:

Common clue words for division problems:

Although clue words will vary a bit from problem to problem, you'll soon learn to recognize which words mean what in order to perform the correct operation.

Read the Problem Carefully

This, of course, means looking for clue words as outlined in the previous section. Once you’ve identified your clue words, highlight or underline them. This will let you know what kind of problem you’re dealing with. Then do the following:

• Ask yourself if you've seen a problem similar to this one. If so, what is similar about it?
• What did you need to do in that instance?
• What facts are you given about this problem?
• What facts do you still need to find out about this problem?

Develop a Plan and Review Your Work

Based on what you discovered by reading the problem carefully and identifying similar problems you’ve encountered before, you can then:

• Define your problem-solving strategy or strategies. This might mean identifying patterns, using known formulas, using sketches, and even guessing and checking.
• If your strategy doesn't work, it may lead you to an ah-ha moment and to a strategy that does work.

If it seems like you’ve solved the problem, ask yourself the following:

• Does your solution seem probable?
• Does it answer the initial question?
• Did you answer using the language in the question?
• Did you answer using the same units?

If you feel confident that the answer is “yes” to all questions, consider your problem solved.

Tips and Hints

Some key questions to consider as you approach the problem may be:

• What are the keywords in the problem?
• Do I need a data visual, such as a diagram, list, table, chart, or graph?
• Is there a formula or equation that I'll need? If so, which one?
• Will I need to use a calculator? Is there a pattern I can use or follow?

Read the problem carefully, and decide on a method to solve the problem. Once you've finished working the problem, check your work and ensure that your answer makes sense and that you've used the same terms and or units in your answer.

• Examples of Problem Solving with 4 Block
• Using Percents - Calculating Commissions
• What to Know About Business Math
• Parentheses, Braces, and Brackets in Math
• How to Solve a System of Linear Equations
• How to Solve Proportions to Adjust a Recipe
• Calculate the Exact Number of Days
• What Is a Ratio? Definition and Examples
• Changing From Base 10 to Base 2
• Finding the Percent of Change Between Numbers
• Learn About Natural Numbers, Whole Numbers, and Integers
• How to Calculate Commissions Using Percents
• Overview of the Stem-and-Leaf Plot
• Understanding Place Value
• Probability and Chance
• Evaluating Functions With Graphs

Problem Solving Skills: Meaning, Examples & Techniques

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26 January 2021

Reading Time: 2 minutes

Do your children have trouble solving their Maths homework?

Or, do they struggle to maintain friendships at school?

If your answer is ‘Yes,’ the issue might be related to your child’s problem-solving abilities. Whether your child often forgets his/her lunch at school or is lagging in his/her class, good problem-solving skills can be a major tool to help them manage their lives better.

Children need to learn to solve problems on their own. Whether it is about dealing with academic difficulties or peer issues when children are equipped with necessary problem-solving skills they gain confidence and learn to make healthy decisions for themselves. So let us look at what is problem-solving, its benefits, and how to encourage your child to inculcate problem-solving abilities

Problem-solving skills can be defined as the ability to identify a problem, determine its cause, and figure out all possible solutions to solve the problem.

• Trigonometric Problems

What is problem-solving, then? Problem-solving is the ability to use appropriate methods to tackle unexpected challenges in an organized manner. The ability to solve problems is considered a soft skill, meaning that it’s more of a personality trait than a skill you’ve learned at school, on-the-job, or through technical training. While your natural ability to tackle problems and solve them is something you were born with or began to hone early on, it doesn’t mean that you can’t work on it. This is a skill that can be cultivated and nurtured so you can become better at dealing with problems over time.

Problem Solving Skills: Meaning, Examples & Techniques are mentioned below in the Downloadable PDF. 

📥

Benefits of learning problem-solving skills  

Promotes creative thinking and thinking outside the box.

Improves decision-making abilities.

Builds solid communication skills.

Develop the ability to learn from mistakes and avoid the repetition of mistakes.

Problem Solving as an ability is a life skill desired by everyone, as it is essential to manage our day-to-day lives. Whether you are at home, school, or work, life throws us curve balls at every single step of the way. And how do we resolve those? You guessed it right – Problem Solving.

Strengthening and nurturing problem-solving skills helps children cope with challenges and obstacles as they come. They can face and resolve a wide variety of problems efficiently and effectively without having a breakdown. Nurturing good problem-solving skills develop your child’s independence, allowing them to grow into confident, responsible adults. 

Children enjoy experimenting with a wide variety of situations as they develop their problem-solving skills through trial and error. A child’s action of sprinkling and pouring sand on their hands while playing in the ground, then finally mixing it all to eliminate the stickiness shows how fast their little minds work.

Sometimes children become frustrated when an idea doesn't work according to their expectations, they may even walk away from their project. They often become focused on one particular solution, which may or may not work.

However, they can be encouraged to try other methods of problem-solving when given support by an adult. The adult may give hints or ask questions in ways that help the kids to formulate their solutions. 

Encouraging Problem-Solving Skills in Kids

Practice problem solving through games.

Exposing kids to various riddles, mysteries, and treasure hunts, puzzles, and games not only enhances their critical thinking but is also an excellent bonding experience to create a lifetime of memories.

Create a safe environment for brainstorming

Welcome, all the ideas your child brings up to you. Children learn how to work together to solve a problem collectively when given the freedom and flexibility to come up with their solutions. This bout of encouragement instills in them the confidence to face obstacles bravely.

Invite children to expand their Learning capabilities

 Whenever children experiment with an idea or problem, they test out their solutions in different settings. They apply their teachings to new situations and effectively receive and communicate ideas. They learn the ability to think abstractly and can learn to tackle any obstacle whether it is finding solutions to a math problem or navigating social interactions.

Problem-solving is the act of finding answers and solutions to complicated problems. 

Developing problem-solving skills from an early age helps kids to navigate their life problems, whether academic or social more effectively and avoid mental and emotional turmoil.

Children learn to develop a future-oriented approach and view problems as challenges that can be easily overcome by exploring solutions. 

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Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

How do you teach problem-solving skills.

Model a useful problem-solving method. Problem solving can be difficult and sometimes tedious. ... 1. Teach within a specific context. ... 2. Help students understand the problem. ... 3. Take enough time. ... 4. Ask questions and make suggestions. ... 5. Link errors to misconceptions.

What makes a good problem solver?

Excellent problem solvers build networks and know how to collaborate with other people and teams. They are skilled in bringing people together and sharing knowledge and information. A key skill for great problem solvers is that they are trusted by others.

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Ratio problem solving

Here you will learn about ratio problem solving, including how to set up and solve problems. You will also look at real life ratio word problems.

Students will first learn about ratio problem solving as part of ratio and proportion in 6 th grade and 7 th grade.

What is ratio problem solving?

Ratio problem solving is a collection of ratio and proportion word problems that link together aspects of ratio and proportion into more real life questions. This requires you to be able to take key information from a question and use your knowledge of ratios (and other areas of the curriculum) to solve the problem.

A ratio is a relationship between two or more quantities. They are usually written in the form a : b where a and b are two quantities. When problem solving with a ratio, the key facts that you need to know are:

• What is the ratio involved?
• What order are the quantities in the ratio?
• What is the total amount / what is the part of the total amount known?
• What are you trying to calculate ?

As with all problem solving, there is not one unique method to solve a problem. However, this does not mean that there aren’t similarities between different problems that you can use to help you find an answer.

The key to any problem solving is being able to draw from prior knowledge and use the correct piece of information to allow you to get to the next step and then the solution.

Let’s look at a couple of methods you can use when given certain pieces of information.

When solving ratio word problems, it is very important that you are able to use ratios. This includes being able to use ratio notation.

For example, Charlie and David share some sweets in the ratio of 3 : 5. This means that for every 3 sweets Charlie gets, David receives 5 sweets.

Charlie and David share 40 sweets, how many sweets do they each get?

You use the ratio to divide 40 sweets into 8 equal parts.

40 \div 8=5

Then you multiply each part of the ratio by 5.

3\times 5:5\times 5=15 : 25

This means that Charlie will get 15 sweets and David will get 25 sweets.

There can be ratio word problems involving different operations and types of numbers.

Here are some examples of different types of ratio word problems:

Dividing ratios	A bag of sweets is shared between boys and girls in the ratio of 5:6. Each person receives the same number of sweets. If there are 15 boys, how many girls are there? (18)
Ratios and fractions (proportion word problems)	If \frac{9}{10} students are right handed, write the ratio of right handed students to left handed students. (9:1)
Simplifying ratios	Simplify the ratio 10:15. (2:3)
Equivalent ratios	Write the ratio 4:15 in the form 1:n. (1:3.75)
Units and conversions	If £1:\$1.37, how much is £10 in US dollars? (\$13.70)
Percents	In a class of 30 students, the ratio of boys to girls is 3:2. If 40\% of the boys and 60\% of the girls passed a math test, how many students passed the test? (14)

Common Core State Standards

How does this relate to 6 th and 7 th grade math?

• Grade 6 – Ratios and Proportional Relationships (6.RP.A.3) Use ratio and rate reasoning to solve real-world and mathematical problems, for example, by reasoning about tables of equivalent ratios, tape diagrams, double number line diagrams, or equations.
• Grade 7 – Ratio and Proportional Relationships (7.RP.A.2) Recognize and represent proportional relationships between quantities.

How to do ratio problem solving

In order to solve problems including ratios:

Identify key information within the question.

Know what you are trying to calculate.

Use prior knowledge to structure a solution.

[FREE] Ratio Problem Solving Worksheet (Grade 6 to 8)

Use this worksheet to check your grade 6 to 8 students’ understanding of ratio problem solving. 15 questions with answers to identify areas of strength and support!

Ratio problem solving examples

Example 1: part:part ratio.

Within a school, the total number of students who have school lunches to packed lunches is 5 : 7. If 465 students have a school lunch, how many students have a packed lunch?

Within a school, the number of students who have school lunches to packed lunches is \textbf{5 : 7} . If \textbf{465} students have a school lunch, how many students have a packed lunch?

Here you can see that the ratio is 5 : 7, where the first part of the ratio represents school lunches (S) and the second part of the ratio represents packed lunches (P).

You could write this as:

Where the letter above each part of the ratio links to the question.

You know that 465 students have school lunch.

2 Know what you are trying to calculate.

From the question, you need to calculate the number of students that have a packed lunch, so you can now write a ratio below the ratio 5 : 7 that shows that you have 465 students who have school lunches, and p students who have a packed lunch.

You need to find the value of p.

3 Use prior knowledge to structure a solution.

You are looking for an equivalent ratio to 5 : 7. So you need to calculate the multiplier.

You do this by dividing the known values on the same side of the ratio by each other.

465\div 5 = 93

This means to create an equivalent ratio, you can multiply both sides by 93.

So the value of p is equal to 7 \times 93=651.

There are 651 students that have a packed lunch.

Example 2: unit conversions

The table below shows the currency conversions on one day.

GBP	1.00
USD	1.37
EUR	1.17
AUD	1.88

Use the table above to convert £520 \; (GBP) to Euros € \; (EUR).

\colorbox{yellow}{GBP}	\colorbox{yellow}{1.00}
USD	1.37
\colorbox{yellow}{EUR}	\colorbox{yellow}{1.17}
AUD	1.88

Use the table above to convert \bf{￡520} \textbf{ (GBP)} to Euros \textbf{€ } \textbf{(EUR)}.

The two values in the table that are important are \text{GBP} and EUR. Writing this as a ratio, you can state,

You know that you have £520.

You need to convert GBP to EUR and so you are looking for an equivalent ratio with GBP=£520 and EUR=E.

To get from 1 to 520, you multiply by 520 and so to calculate the number of Euros for £520, you need to multiply 1.17 by 520.

1.17 \times 520=608.4

So £520=€608.40.

Example 3: writing a ratio 1 : n

Liquid plant food is sold in concentrated bottles. The instructions on the bottle state that the 500 \, ml of concentrated plant food must be diluted into 2 \, l of water. Express the ratio of plant food to water, respectively, in the ratio 1 : n.

Liquid plant food is sold in concentrated bottles. The instructions on the bottle state that the \bf{500 \, ml} of concentrated plant food must be diluted into \bf{2 \, l} of water. Express the ratio of plant food to water respectively as a ratio in the form 1 : n.

Using the information in the question, you can now state the ratio of plant food to water as 500 \, ml : 2 \, l. As you can convert liters into milliliters, you could convert 2 \, l into milliliters by multiplying it by 1000.

2 \, l=2000 \, ml

So you can also express the ratio as 500 : 2000 which will help you in later steps.

You want to simplify the ratio 500 : 2000 into the form 1:n.

You need to find an equivalent ratio where the first part of the ratio is equal to 1. You can only do this by dividing both parts of the ratio by 500 (as 500 \div 500=1 ).

So the ratio of plant food to water in the form 1 : n is 1 : 4.

Example 4: forming and solving an equation

Three siblings, Josh, Kieran and Luke, receive an allowance each week proportional to their age. Kieran is 3 years older than Josh. Luke is twice Josh’s age. If Josh receives \$ 8 allowance, how much money do the three siblings receive in total?

Three siblings, Josh, Kieran and Luke, receive an allowance each week proportional to their ages. Kieran is \bf{3} years older than Josh. Luke is twice Josh’s age. If Luke receives \bf{\$ 8} allowance, how much money do the three siblings receive in total?

You can represent the ages of the three siblings as a ratio. Taking Josh as x years old, Kieran would therefore be x+3 years old, and Luke would be 2x years old. As a ratio, you have:

You also know that Luke receives \$ 8.

You want to calculate the total amount of allowance for the three siblings.

You need to find the value of x first. As Luke receives \$ 8, you can state the equation 2x=8 and so x=4.

Now you know the value of x, you can substitute this value into the other parts of the ratio to obtain how much money the siblings each receive.

The total amount of allowance is therefore 4+7+8=\$ 19.

Example 5: simplifying ratios

Below is a bar chart showing the results for the colors of counters in a bag.

Express this data as a ratio in its simplest form.

From the bar chart, you can read the frequencies to create the ratio.

You need to simplify this ratio.

To simplify a ratio, you need to find the highest common factor of all the parts of the ratio. By listing the factors of each number, you can quickly see that the highest common factor is 2.

\begin{aligned} & 12 = 1, {\color{red}2}, 3, 4, 6, 12 \\\\ & 16 = 1, {\color{red}2}, 4, 8, 16 \\\\ & 10 = 1, {\color{red}2}, 5, 10 \end{aligned}

HCF(12,16,10) = 2

Dividing all the parts of the ratio by 2, you get

Our solution is 6 : 8 : 5.

Example 6: combining two ratios

Glass is made from silica, lime and soda. The ratio of silica to lime is 15 : 2. The ratio of silica to soda is 5 : 1. State the ratio of silica:lime:soda.

Glass is made from silica, lime and soda. The ratio of silica to lime is \bf{15 : 2}. The ratio of silica to soda is \bf{5 : 1}. State the ratio of silica:lime:soda.

You know the two ratios

You are trying to find the ratio of all 3 components: silica, lime and soda.

Using equivalent ratios you can say that the ratio of Silica:Soda is equivalent to 15 : 3 by multiplying the ratio by 3.

You now have the same amount of silica in both ratios and so you can now combine them to get the ratio 15 : 2 : 3.

Example 7: using bar modeling

India and Beau share some popcorn in the ratio of 5 : 2. If India has 75 \, g more popcorn than Beau, what was the original quantity?

India and Beau share some popcorn in the ratio of \bf{5 : 2} . If India has \bf{75 \, g} more popcorn than Beau, what was the original quantity?

You know that the initial ratio is 5 : 2 and that India has three more parts than Beau.

You want to find the original quantity.

Drawing a bar model of this problem, you have:

Where India has 5 equal shares, and Beau has 2 equal shares.

Each share is the same value and so if you can find out this value, you can then find the total quantity.

From the question, India’s share is 75 \, g more than Beau’s share so you can write this on the bar model.

You can find the value of one share by working out 75 \div 3=25 \, g.

You can fill in each share to be 25 \, g.

Adding up each share, you get

India=5 \times 25=125 \, g

Beau=2 \times 25=50 \, g

The total amount of popcorn was 125+50=175 \, g.

Teaching tips for ratio problem solving

• Continue to remind students that when solving ratio word problems, it’s important to identify the quantities being compared and express the ratio in its simplest form.
• Create practice problems for students using the information in your classroom. For example, ask students to find the ratio of boys to the ratio of girls using the total number of students in your classroom, then the school.
• To find more practice questions, utilize educational websites and apps instead of worksheets. Some of these may also provide tutorials for struggling students. These can also be helpful for test prep as they are more engaging for students.
• Use a variety of numbers in your ratio word problems – whole numbers, fractions, decimals, and mixed numbers – to give students a variety of practice.
• Provide students with a step-by-step process for problem solving, like the one shown above, that can be applied to every ratio word problem.

Easy mistakes to make

• Mixing units Make sure that all the units in the ratio are the same. For example, in example 6, all the units in the ratio were in milliliters. You did not mix ml and l in the ratio.
• Writing ratios in the wrong order For example, the number of dogs to cats is given as the ratio 12 : 13 but the solution is written as 13 : 12.

• Counting the number of parts in the ratio, not the total number of shares For example, the ratio 5 : 4 has 9 shares, and 2 parts. This is because the ratio contains 2 numbers but the sum of these parts (the number of shares) is 5+4=9. You need to find the value per share, so you need to use the 9 shares in your next line of working.
• Ratios of the form \bf{1 : \textbf{n}} The assumption can be incorrectly made that n must be greater than 1, but n can be any number, including a decimal.

Related ratio lessons

• Unit rate math
• Simplifying ratios
• Ratio to fraction
• How to calculate exchange rates
• Ratio to percent
• How to write a ratio
• Dividing ratios
• How to find the unit rate
• Ratio scale
• Constant of proportionality

Practice ratio problem solving questions

1. An online shop sells board games and computer games. The ratio of board games to the total number of games sold in one month is 3 : 8. What is the ratio of board games to computer games?

8-3=5 computer games sold for every 3 board games.

2. The ratio of prime numbers to non-prime numbers from 1-200 is 45 : 155. Express this as a ratio in the form 1 : n.

You need to simplify the ratio so that the first number is 1. That means you need to divide each number in the ratio by 45.

45 \div 45=1

155\div{45}=3\cfrac{4}{9}

3. During one month, the weather was recorded into 3 categories: sunshine, cloud and rain. The ratio of sunshine to cloud was 2 : 3 and the ratio of cloud to rain was 9 : 11. State the ratio that compares sunshine:cloud:rain for the month.

3 \times S : C=6 : 9

4. The angles in a triangle are written as the ratio x : 2x : 3x. Calculate the size of each angle.

You should know that the 3 angles in a triangle always equal 180^{\circ}.

\begin{aligned} & x+2 x+3 x=180 \\\\ & 6 x=180 \\\\ & x=30^{\circ} \\\\ & 2 x=60^{\circ} \\\\ & 3 x=90^{\circ} \end{aligned}

5. A clothing company has a sale on tops, dresses and shoes. \cfrac{1}{3} of sales were for tops, \cfrac{1}{5} of sales were for dresses, and the rest were for shoes. Write a ratio of tops to dresses to shoes sold in its simplest form.

\cfrac{1}{3}+\cfrac{1}{5}=\cfrac{5+3}{15}=\cfrac{8}{15}

1-\cfrac{8}{15}=\cfrac{7}{15}

6. The volume of gas is directly proportional to the temperature (in degrees Kelvin). A balloon contains 2.75 \, l of gas and has a temperature of 18^{\circ}K. What is the volume of gas if the temperature increases to 45^{\circ}K?

The given ratio in the word problem is 2. 75 \mathrm{~L}: 18^{\circ} \mathrm{K}

Divide 45 by 18 to see the relationship between the two temperatures.

45 \div 18=2.5

45 is 2.5 times greater than 18. So we multiply 2.75 by 2.5 to get the amount of gas.

2.75 \times 2.5=6.875 \mathrm{~l}

Ratio problem solving FAQs

A ratio is a comparison of two or more quantities. It shows how much one quantity is related to another.

A recipe calls for 2 cups of flour and 1 cup of sugar. What is the ratio of flour to sugar? (2 : 1)

In middle school ( 7 th grade and 8 th grade), students transition from understanding basic ratios to working with more complex and real-life applications of ratios and proportions. They gain a deeper understanding of how ratios relate to different mathematical concepts, making them more prepared for higher-level math topics in high school.

The next lessons are

• Converting fractions, decimals and percentages

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32 Examples of Real-World Math Problems

• • Published: April 23, 2024
• • Last update: June 14, 2024
• • Grades: All grades

Introduction

8th grade algebra problem:

Farmer Alfred has three times as many chickens as cows. In total, there are 60 legs in the barn. How many cows does Farmer Alfred have? [1]

Does this sound like a real-world math problem to you? We’ve got chickens, cows, and Farmer Alfred – it’s a scenario straight out of everyday life, isn’t it?

But before you answer, let me ask you something: If you wanted to figure out the number of cows, would you:

• Count their legs, or
• Simply count their heads ( or even just ask Farmer Alfred, “Hey Alfred, how many cows do you have?” )

Chances are, most people would go with option B.

So, why do our math books contain so many “real-world math problems” like the one above?

In this article, we’ll dive into what truly makes a math problem a real-world challenge.

Understanding 'Problems' in Daily Life and Mathematics

The word “problem” carries different meanings in everyday life and in the realm of mathematics, which can sometimes lead to confusion. In our daily lives, when we say “ I have a problem ,” we typically mean that something undesirable has occurred – something challenging to resolve or with potential negative consequences.

For instance:

• “I have a problem because I’ve lost my wallet.”
• “I have a problem because I forgot my keys at home, and I won’t be able to get into the house when I return from school.”
• “I have a problem because I was sick and missed a few weeks of school, which means I’ll likely fail my math test.”

These are examples of everyday problems we encounter. However, once the problem is solved, it often ceases to be a problem:

• “I don’t have a problem getting into my house anymore because my mom gave me her keys.”

In mathematics, the term “problem” takes on a different meaning. According to the Cambridge dictionary [2], it’s defined as “ a question in mathematics that needs an answer. “

Here are a few examples:

• If x + 2 = 4, what is the value of x?
• How do you find the common denominator for fractions 1/3 and 1/4?
• What is the length of the hypotenuse in a right triangle if two legs are 3 and 4 feet long?

These are all examples of math problems.

It’s important to note that in mathematics, a problem remains a problem even after it’s solved. Math problems are universal, regardless of who encounters them [3]. For instance, both John and Emma could face the same math problem, such as “ If x + 2 = 4, then what is x? ” After they solve it, it still remains a math problem that a teacher could give to somebody else.

Understanding Real-World Math Problems

So, what exactly is a “real-world math problem”? We’ve established that in our daily lives, we refer to a situation as a “problem” when it could lead to unpleasant consequences. In mathematics, a “problem” refers to a mathematical question that requires a mathematical solution.

With that in mind, we can define a real-world math problem as:

A situation that could have negative consequences in real life and that requires a mathematical solution (i.e. mathematical solution is preferred over other solutions).

Consider this example:

Could miscalculating the flour amount lead to less-than-ideal results? Absolutely. Messing up the flour proportion could result in a less tasty cake – certainly an unpleasant consequence.

Now, let’s explore the methods for solving this. While traditional methods, like visually dividing the flour or measuring multiple times, have their place, they may not be suitable for larger-scale events, such as catering for a wedding with 250 guests. In such cases, a mathematical solution is not only preferred but also more practical.

By setting up a simple proportion – 1 1/2 cups of flour for 8 people equals x cups for 20 people – we can quickly find the precise amount needed: 3 3/4 cups of flour. In larger events, like the wedding, the mathematical approach provides even more value, yielding a requirement of nearly 47 cups of flour.

This illustrates why a mathematical solution is faster, more accurate, and less error-prone, making it the preferred method. Coupled with the potential negative consequences of inaccuracies, this makes the problem a real-world one, showcasing the practical application of math in everyday scenarios.

Identifying Non-Real-World Math Problems

Let’s revisit the example from the beginning of this article:

Farmer Alfred has three times as many chickens as cows. In total, there are 60 legs in the barn. How many cows does Farmer Alfred have?

3rd grade basic arithmetic problem:

Noah has $56, and Olivia has 8 times less. How much money does Olivia have?

Once more, in our daily routines, do we handle money calculations this way? Why would one prefer to use mathematical solution ($56 : 8 =$7). More often than not, we’d simply ask Olivia how much money she has. While the problem can theoretically be solved mathematically, it’s much more practical, efficient, and reliable to resolve it by directly asking Olivia.

Examples like these are frequently found in math textbooks because they aid in developing mathematical thinking. However, the scenarios they describe are uncommon in real life and fail to explicitly demonstrate the usefulness of math. In essence, they don’t showcase what math can actually be used for. Therefore, there are two crucial aspects of true real-world math problems: they must be commonplace in real life, and they must explicitly illustrate the utility of math.

To summarize:

Word problems that are uncommon in real life and fail to convincingly demonstrate the usefulness of math are not real-world math problems.

Real-World Math Problems Across Professions

Many professions entail encountering real-world math problems on a regular basis. Consider the following examples:

Nurses often need to calculate accurate drug dosage amounts using proportions, a task solved through mathematical methods. Incorrect dosage calculations can pose serious risks to patient health, leading to potentially harmful consequences.

Construction engineers frequently need to determine whether a foundation will be sturdy enough to support a building, employing mathematical solving techniques and specialized formulas. Errors in these calculations can result in structural issues such as cracks in walls due to foundation deformation, leading to undesirable outcomes.

Marketers often rely on statistical analysis to assess the performance of online advertisements, including metrics like click-through rates and the geographical distribution of website visitors. Mathematical analysis guides decision-making in this area. Inaccurate analyses may lead to inefficient allocation of advertisement budgets, resulting in less-than-optimal outcomes.

These examples illustrate real-world math problems encountered in various professions. While there are numerous instances of such problems, they are often overlooked in educational settings. At DARTEF, we aim to bridge this gap by compiling a comprehensive list of real-world math problems, which we’ll explore in the following section.

32 Genuine Real-World Math Problems

In this section, we present 32 authentic real-world math problems from diverse fields such as safety and security, microbiology, architecture, engineering, nanotechnology, archaeology, creativity, and more. Each of these problems meets the criteria we’ve outlined previously. Specifically, a problem can be classified as a real-world math problem if:

• It is commonly encountered in real-life scenarios.
• It has the potential for undesirable consequences.
• A mathematical solution is preferable over alternative methods.
• It effectively illustrates the practical utility of mathematics.

All these problems stem from actual on-the-job situations, showcasing the application of middle and high school math in various professions.

Math Problems in Biology

Real-world math problems in biology often involve performing measurements or making predictions. Mathematics helps us understand various biological phenomena, such as the growth of bacterial populations, the spread of diseases, and even the reconstruction of ancient human appearances. Here are a couple of specific examples:

1. Reconstructing Human Faces Using Parallel and Perpendicular Lines:

Archeologists and forensic specialists often reconstruct human faces based on skeletal remains. They utilize parallel and perpendicular lines to create symmetry lines on the face, aiding in the recovery of facial features and proportions. Our article, “ Parallel and Perpendicular Lines: A Real-Life Example (From Forensics and Archaeology) ,” provides a comprehensive explanation and illustrates how the shape of the nose can be reconstructed using parallel and perpendicular lines, line segments, tangent lines, and symmetry lines.

2. Measuring Bacteria Size Using Circumference and Area Formulas:

Microbiology specialists routinely measure bacteria size to monitor and document their growth rates. Since bacterial shapes often resemble geometric shapes studied in school, mathematical methods such as calculating circumference or area of a circle are convenient for measuring bacteria size. Our article, “ Circumference: A Real-Life Example (from Microbiology) ,” delves into this process in detail.

Math Problems in Construction and Architecture

Real-world math problems are abundant in architecture and construction projects, where mathematics plays a crucial role in ensuring safety, efficiency, and sustainability. Here are some specific case studies that illustrate the application of math in these domains:

3. Calculating Central Angles for Safe Roadways:​

Central angle calculations are a fundamental aspect of roadway engineering, particularly in designing curved roads. Civil engineers use these calculations to determine the degree of road curvature, which significantly impacts road safety and compliance with regulations. Mathematical concepts such as radius, degrees, arc length, and proportions are commonly employed by civil engineers in their daily tasks. Our article, “ How to Find a Central Angle: A Real-Life Example (from Civil Engineering) ,” provides further explanation and demonstrates the calculation of central angles using a real road segment as an example.

4. Designing Efficient Roof Overhang Using Trigonometry

Trigonometry is a powerful tool in architecture and construction, providing a simple yet effective way to calculate the sizes of building elements, including roof overhangs. For example, the tangent function is used to design the optimal length of a roof overhang that blocks the high summer sun while allowing the lower winter sun to enter . Our article, “ Tangent (Trigonometry): A Real-Life Example (From Architecture and Construction) ,” provides a detailed use case with two methods of calculation and also includes a worksheet.

5. Designing Efficient Roofs for Solar Panels Using Angle Geometry:

Mathematics plays a crucial role in architecture, aiding architects and construction engineers in designing energy-efficient building structures. For example, when considering the installation of solar panels on a building’s roof, understanding geometric properties such as adjacent and alternate angles is essential for maximizing energy efficiency . By utilizing mathematical calculations, architects can determine the optimal angle for positioning solar panels and reflectors to capture maximum sunlight. Our article, “ A Real-Life Example of How Angles are Used in Architecture ,” provides explanations and illustrations, including animations.

6. Precision Drilling of Oil Wells Using Trigonometry:

Petroleum engineers rely on trigonometric principles such as sines, cosines, tangents, and right-angle triangles to drill oil wells accurately. Trigonometry enables engineers to calculate precise angles and distances necessary for drilling vertical, inclined, and even horizontal wells. For instance, when drilling at an inclination of 30°, engineers can use trigonometry to calculate the vertical depth corresponding to each foot drilled horizontally. Our article, “ CosX: A Real-Life Example (from Petroleum Engineering) ,” provides examples, drawings of right triangle models, and necessary calculations.

7. Calculating Water Flow Rate Using Composite Figures:

Water supply specialists frequently encounter the task of calculating water flow rates in water canals, which involves determining the area of composite figures representing canal cross-sections . Many canal cross-sections consist of composite shapes, such as rectangles and triangles. By calculating the areas of these individual components and summing them, specialists can determine the total cross-sectional area and subsequently calculate the flow rate of water. Our article, “ Area of Composite Figures: A Real-Life Example (from Water Supply) ,” presents necessary figures, cross-sections, and an example calculation.

Math Problems in Business and Marketing

Mathematics plays a crucial role not only in finance and banking but also in making informed decisions across various aspects of business development, marketing analysis, growth strategies, and more. Here are some real-world math problems commonly encountered in business and marketing:

8. Analyzing Webpage Position in Google Using Polynomials and Polynomial Graphs:

Polynomials and polynomial graphs are essential tools for data analysis. They are useful for a wide variety of people, not only data analysts, but literally everyone who ever uses Excel or Google Sheets. Our article, “ Graphing Polynomials: A Real-World Example (from Data Analysis) ,” describes this and provides an authentic case study. The case study demonstrates how polynomials, polynomial functions of varying degrees, and polynomial graphs are used in internet technologies to analyze the visibility of webpages in Google and other search engines.”

9. Making Informed Business Development Decisions Using Percentages:

In business development, math problems often revolve around analyzing growth and making strategic decisions. Understanding percentages is essential, particularly when launching new products or services. For example, determining whether a startup should target desktop computer, smartphone, or tablet users for an app requires analyzing installation percentages among user groups to gain insights into consumer behavior. Math helps optimize marketing efforts, enhance customer engagement, and drive growth in competitive markets. Check out our article “ A Real-Life Example of Percent Problems in Business ” for a detailed description of this example.

10. Analyzing Customer Preferences Using Polynomials:

Marketing involves not only creative advertising but also thorough analysis of customer preferences and marketing campaigns. Marketing specialists often use simple polynomials for such analysis, as they help analyze multiple aspects of customer behavior simultaneously. For instance, marketers may use polynomials to determine whether low price or service quality is more important to hotel visitors. Smart analysis using polynomials enables businesses to make informed decisions. If you’re interested in learning more, our article “ Polynomials: A Real Life Example (from Marketing) ” provides a real-world example from the hotel industry.

11. Avoiding Statistical Mistakes Using Simpson’s Paradox:

Data gathering and trend analysis are essential in marketing, but a good understanding of mathematical statistics helps avoid intuitive mistakes . For example, consider an advertising campaign targeting Android and iOS users. Initial data may suggest that iOS users are more responsive. However, a careful statistical analysis, as described in our article “ Simpson’s Paradox: A Real-Life Example (from Marketing) ,” may reveal that Android users, particularly tablet users, actually click on ads more frequently. This contradiction highlights the importance of accurate statistical interpretation and the careful use of mathematics in decision-making.

Math Problems in Digital Agriculture

In the modern era, agriculture is becoming increasingly digitalized, with sensors and artificial intelligence playing vital roles in farm management. Mathematics is integral to this digital transformation, aiding in data analysis, weather prediction, soil parameter measurement, irrigation scheduling, and more. Here’s an example of a real-world math problem in digital agriculture:

12. Combatting Pests with Negative Numbers:

Negative numbers are utilized in agriculture to determine the direction of movement, similar to how they’re used on a temperature scale where a plus sign indicates an increase and a minus sign indicates a decrease. In agricultural sensors, plus and minus signs may indicate whether pests are moving towards or away from plants. For instance, a plus sign could signify movement towards plants, while a minus sign indicates movement away from plants. Understanding these directional movements helps farmers combat pests effectively. Our article, “ Negative Numbers: A Real-Life Example (from Agriculture) ,” provides detailed explanations and examples of how negative numbers are applied in agriculture.

Math Problems in DIY Projects

In do-it-yourself (DIY) projects, mathematics plays a crucial role in measurements, calculations, and problem-solving. Whether you’re designing furniture, planning home renovations, crafting handmade gifts, or landscaping your garden, math provides essential tools for precise measurements, material estimations, and budget management. Here’s an example of a real-world math problem in DIY:

13. Checking Construction Parts for Right Angles Using the Pythagorean Theorem:

The converse of the Pythagorean theorem allows you to check whether various elements – such as foundations, corners of rooms, garage walls, or sides of vegetable patches – form right angles. This can be done quickly using Pythagorean triples like 3-4-5 or 6-8-10, or by calculating with square roots. This method ensures the creation of right angles or verifies if an angle is indeed right. Our article, “ Pythagorean Theorem Converse: A Real-Life Example (from DIY) ,” explains this concept and provides an example of how to build a perfect 90° foundation using the converse of the Pythagorean theorem.

Math Problems in Entertainment and Creativity

Mathematics plays a surprisingly significant role in the creative industries, including music composition, visual effects creation, and computer graphic design. Understanding and applying mathematical concepts is essential for producing engaging and attractive creative works. Here’s an example of a real-world math problem in entertainment:

14. Controlling Stage Lamps with Linear Functions:

Linear and quadratic functions are essential components of the daily work of lighting specialists in theaters and event productions. These professionals utilize specialized software and controllers that rely on algorithms based on mathematical functions. Linear functions, in particular, are commonly used to control stage lamps, ensuring precise and coordinated lighting effects during performances. Our article, “ Linear Function: A Real-Life Example (from Entertainment) ,” delves into this topic in detail, complete with animations that illustrate how these functions are applied in practice.

Math Problems in Healthcare

Mathematics plays a crucial role in solving numerous real-world problems in healthcare, ranging from patient care to the design of advanced medical devices. Here are several examples of real-world math problems in healthcare:

15. Calculating Dosage by Converting Time Units:

Nurses frequently convert between hours, minutes, and seconds to accurately administer medications and fluids to patients. For example, if a patient requires 300mL of fluid over 2.5 hours, nurses must convert hours to minutes to calculate the appropriate drip rate for an IV bag. Understanding mathematical conversions and solving proportions are essential skills in nursing. Check out our article, “ Converting Hours to Minutes: A Real-Life Example (from Nursing) ,” for further explanation.

16. Predicting Healthcare Needs Using Quadratic Functions:

Mathematical functions, including quadratic functions, are used to make predictions in public health. These predictions are vital for estimating the need for medical services, such as psychological support following traumatic events. Quadratic functions can model trends in stress symptoms over time, enabling healthcare systems to anticipate and prepare for increased demand. Our article, “ Parabola Equation: A Real-Life Example (from Public Health) ,” provides further insights and examples.

17. Predicting Healthcare Needs Using Piecewise Linear Functions:

Piecewise linear functions are useful for describing real-world trends that cannot be accurately represented by other functions. For instance, if stress symptoms fluctuate irregularly over time, piecewise linear functions can define periods of increased and decreased stress levels. Our article, “ Piecewise Linear Function: A Real-Life Example (From Public Health) ,” offers an example of how these functions are applied.

18. Designing Medical Prostheses Using the Pythagorean Theorem:

The Pythagorean theorem is applied in the design of medical devices , particularly prostheses for traumatic recovery. Components of these devices often resemble right triangles, allowing engineers to calculate movement and placement for optimal patient comfort and stability during rehabilitation. For a detailed explanation and animations, see our article, “ The 3-4-5 Triangle: A Real-Life Example (from Mechatronics) .”

19. Illustrating Disease Survival Rates Using Cartesian Coordinate Plane:

In medicine, Cartesian coordinate planes are utilized for analyzing historical data, statistics, and predictions. They help visualize relationships between independent and dependent variables, such as survival rates and diagnostic timing in diseases like lung cancer. Our article, “ Coordinate Plane: A Real-Life Example (from Medicine) ,” offers a detailed exploration of this concept, including analyses for both non-smoking and smoking patients.

Math Problems in Industry

Mathematics plays a vital role in solving numerous real-world problems across various industries. From designing industrial robots to analyzing production quality and planning logistics, math is indispensable for optimizing processes and improving efficiency. Here are several examples of real-world math problems in industry:

20. Precise Movements of Industrial Robots Using Trigonometry:

Trigonometry is extensively utilized to direct and control the movements of industrial robots. Each section of an industrial robot can be likened to a leg or hypotenuse of a right triangle, allowing trigonometry to precisely control the position of the robot head. For instance, if the robot head needs to move 5 inches to the right, trigonometry enables calculations to ensure each section of the robot moves appropriately to achieve the desired position. For detailed examples and calculations, refer to our article, “ Find the Missing Side: A Real-life Example (from Robotics) .”

21. Measuring Nanoparticle Size via Cube Root Calculation:

Mathematics plays a crucial role in nanotechnology, particularly in measuring the size of nanoparticles. Cube roots are commonly employed to calculate the size of cube-shaped nanoparticles. As nanoparticles are extremely small and challenging to measure directly, methods in nanotechnology determine nanoparticle volume, allowing for the calculation of cube root to determine the size of the nanoparticle cube side. Check out our article, “ Cube Root: A Real-Life Example (from Nanotechnology) ,” for explanations, calculations, and insights into the connection between physics and math.

22. Understanding Human Emotions Using Number Codes for Robots:

Mathematics is employed to measure human emotions effectively, which is essential for building smart robots capable of recognizing and responding to human emotions. Each human emotion can be broken down into smaller features, such as facial expressions, which are assigned mathematical codes to create algorithms for robots to recognize and distinguish emotions. Explore our article, “ Psychology and Math: A Real-Life Example (from Smart Robots) ,” to understand this process and its connection to psychology.

23. Systems of Linear Equations in Self-Driving Cars:

In the automotive industry, mathematics is pivotal for ensuring the safety and efficiency of self-driving cars. Systems of linear equations are used to predict critical moments in road safety, such as when two cars are side by side during an overtaking maneuver. By solving systems of linear equations, self-driving car computers can assess the safety of overtaking situations. Our article, “ Systems of Linear Equations: A Real-Life Example (from Self-Driving Cars) ,” provides a comprehensive explanation, including animated illustrations and interactive simulations, demonstrating how linear functions and equations are synchronized with car motion.

Math Problems in Information Technology (IT)

Mathematics serves as a fundamental tool in the field of information technology (IT), underpinning various aspects of software development, cybersecurity, and technological advancements. Here are some real-world math problems encountered in IT:

24. Selecting the Right Word in Machine Translation Using Mathematical Probability:

Theoretical probability plays a crucial role in AI machine translation systems, such as Google Translate, by aiding in the selection of the most appropriate words. Words often have multiple translations, and theoretical probability helps analyze the frequency of word appearances in texts to propose the most probable translation. Dive deeper into this topic in our article, “ Theoretical Probability: A Real-Life Example (from Artificial Intelligence) .”

25. Creating User-Friendly Music Streaming Websites Using Mathematical Probability:

Probability is utilized in user experience (UX) design to enhance the usability of digital products , including music streaming websites. Recommendation algorithms calculate theoretical probability to suggest songs that users are likely to enjoy, improving their overall experience. Learn more about this application in our article, “ Theoretical Probability: A Real-Life Example (from Digital Design) .”

26. Developing Realistic Computer Games with Vectors:

Mathematics is essential in animating objects and simulating real-world factors in computer games. Vectors enable game developers to incorporate realistic elements like gravity and wind into the gaming environment. By applying vector addition, developers can accurately depict how external forces affect object trajectories, enhancing the gaming experience. Explore this concept further in our article, “ Parallelogram Law of Vector Addition: A Real-Life Example (from Game Development) .”

27. Detecting Malicious Bots in Social Media Using Linear Inequalities:

Mathematical inequalities are valuable tools in cybersecurity for identifying malicious activity on social media platforms. By analyzing behavioral differences between real users and bots—such as friend count, posting frequency, and device usage—cybersecurity experts can develop algorithms to detect and block suspicious accounts. Discover more about this application in our article, “ How to Write Inequalities: A Real-life Example (from Social Media) .”

28. Increasing Computational Efficiency Using Algebraic and Rational Expressions

Algebraic and rational expressions are crucial in computer technology for increasing computational efficiency . Every step in a computer program’s algorithm requires valuable time and energy for execution. This is especially important for programs used in various safety and security systems. Simplifying these expressions helps boost computational performance. Our article, “ Algebraic and Rational Expressions: A Real-Life Example (from Computer Technology) ,” explains this in detail.

Math Problems in Legal Issues

In legal proceedings, mathematics plays a crucial role in analyzing data and making informed decisions. Here’s a real-world math problem encountered in legal work:

29. Proving the Reliability of Technology in Court Using Percentages:

In certain court cases, particularly those involving new technologies like autonomous cars, lawyers may need to employ mathematical methods to justify evidence. Percentage analysis can be utilized to assess the reliability of technology in court. For instance, in cases related to self-driving cars, lawyers may compare the percentage of errors made by autonomous vehicles with those made by human drivers to determine the technology’s safety. Delve deeper into this topic in our article, “ Solving Percent Problems: A Real-Life Example (from Legal) .”

Math Problems in Safety and Security

In the realm of safety and security, mathematics plays a vital role in protecting people, nature, and assets. Real-world math problems in this field can involve reconstructing crime scenes, analyzing evidence, creating effective emergency response plans, and predicting and responding to natural disasters. Here are two examples:

30. Reconstructing a Crime Scene with Inverse Trigonometry:

Forensic specialists rely on mathematical methods, such as inverse trigonometry, to uncover details of crimes long after they’ve occurred. Inverse trigonometric functions like arcsin, arccos, and arctan enable forensic specialists to calculate precise shooting angles or the trajectory of blood drops at crime scenes. Dive into this topic in our article, “ Arctan: A Real-Life Example (from Criminology) .”

31. Responding to Wildfires with Mathematical Variables:

Variables in mathematical language are also prevalent in real-world scenarios like firefighting. For instance, when dealing with wildfires, independent variables like forest type, wind speed and direction, rainfall, and terrain slope influence fire spread speed (dependent variable) . By utilizing specialized formulas incorporating these variables, fire protection specialists can accurately predict fire paths and optimize firefighting efforts. Explore this practical application in our article, “ Dependent and Independent Variables: A Real-Life Example (from Fire Protection) .”

Math Problems in Weather and Climate

In the realm of weather and climate, mathematics is crucial for creating mathematical models of Earth’s atmosphere, making weather forecasts, predicting weather patterns, and assessing long-term climate trends. Here’s an example:

32. Forecasting Thunderstorms with Negative Numbers:

Negative numbers play a significant role in forecasting thunderstorms. The probability of thunderstorms is closely tied to the temperature differences between air masses in the atmosphere. By subtracting negative numbers (representing temperature values) and analyzing the results, meteorologists can forecast the likelihood of thunderstorms based on the temperature differentials. Dive deeper into this concept in our article, “ Subtracting Negative Numbers: A Real-Life Example (from Weather Forecast). “

Conclusions

Many students perceive math as disconnected from the real world, leading them to question its relevance. Admittedly, maintaining this relevance is no easy feat—it requires collective effort. Farmer Alfred can’t tackle this challenge alone. However, introducing more real-world math examples into the school curriculum is a crucial step. Numerous studies have demonstrated that such examples significantly enhance students’ motivation to learn math. Our own pilot tests confirm this, showing that a clear connection between real-world problems and math education profoundly influences how young people view their future careers.

Therefore, to increase the overall relevance of math education and motivate students, we must prioritize the integration of real-world examples into our teaching practices. At DARTEF, we are dedicated to this cause, striving to bring authenticity to mathematics education worldwide.

• Vos, Pauline. ““How real people really need mathematics in the real world”—Authenticity in mathematics education.” Education Sciences  8.4 (2018): 195.
• Cambridge dictionary, Meaning of problem in English.
• Reif, Frederick.  Applying cognitive science to education: Thinking and learning in scientific and other complex domains . MIT press, 2008.

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6 Tips for Teaching Math Problem-Solving Skills

Solving word problems is tougher than computing with numbers, but elementary teachers can guide students to do the deep thinking involved.

A growing concern with students is the ability to problem-solve, especially with complex, multistep problems. Data shows that students struggle more when solving word problems than they do with computation , and so problem-solving should be considered separately from computation. Why?

Consider this. When we’re on the way to a new destination and we plug in our location to a map on our phone, it tells us what lane to be in and takes us around any detours or collisions, sometimes even buzzing our watch to remind us to turn. When I experience this as a driver, I don’t have to do the thinking. I can think about what I’m going to cook for dinner, not paying much attention to my surroundings other than to follow those directions. If I were to be asked to go there again, I wouldn’t be able to remember, and I would again seek help.

If we can switch to giving students strategies that require them to think instead of giving them too much support throughout the journey to the answer, we may be able to give them the ability to learn the skills to read a map and have several ways to get there.

Here are six ways we can start letting students do this thinking so that they can go through rigorous problem-solving again and again, paving their own way to the solution. 

1. Link problem-solving to reading

When we can remind students that they already have many comprehension skills and strategies they can easily use in math problem-solving, it can ease the anxiety surrounding the math problem. For example, providing them with strategies to practice, such as visualizing, acting out the problem with math tools like counters or base 10 blocks, drawing a quick sketch of the problem, retelling the story in their own words, etc., can really help them to utilize the skills they already have to make the task less daunting.

We can break these skills into specific short lessons so students have a bank of strategies to try on their own. Here's an example of an anchor chart that they can use for visualizing . Breaking up comprehension into specific skills can increase student independence and help teachers to be much more targeted in their problem-solving instruction. This allows students to build confidence and break down the barriers between reading and math to see they already have so many strengths that are transferable to all problems.

2. Avoid boxing students into choosing a specific operation

It can be so tempting to tell students to look for certain words that might mean a certain operation. This might even be thoroughly successful in kindergarten and first grade, but just like when our map tells us where to go, that limits students from becoming deep thinkers. It also expires once they get into the upper grades, where those words could be in a problem multiple times, creating more confusion when students are trying to follow a rule that may not exist in every problem.

We can encourage a variety of ways to solve problems instead of choosing the operation first. In first grade, a problem might say, “Joceline has 13 stuffed animals and Jordan has 17. How many more does Jordan have?” Some students might choose to subtract, but a lot of students might just count to find the amount in between. If we tell them that “how many more” means to subtract, we’re taking the thinking out of the problem altogether, allowing them to go on autopilot without truly solving the problem or using their comprehension skills to visualize it. 

3. Revisit ‘representation’

The word “representation” can be misleading. It seems like something to do after the process of solving. When students think they have to go straight to solving, they may not realize that they need a step in between to be able to support their understanding of what’s actually happening in the problem first.

Using an anchor chart like one of these ( lower grade , upper grade ) can help students to choose a representation that most closely matches what they’re visualizing in their mind. Once they sketch it out, it can give them a clearer picture of different ways they could solve the problem.

Think about this problem: “Varush went on a trip with his family to his grandmother’s house. It was 710 miles away. On the way there, three people took turns driving. His mom drove 214 miles. His dad drove 358 miles. His older sister drove the rest. How many miles did his sister drive?”

If we were to show this student the anchor chart, they would probably choose a number line or a strip diagram to help them understand what’s happening.

If we tell students they must always draw base 10 blocks in a place value chart, that doesn’t necessarily match the concept of this problem. When we ask students to match our way of thinking, we rob them of critical thinking practice and sometimes confuse them in the process. 

4. Give time to process

Sometimes as educators, we can feel rushed to get to everyone and everything that’s required. When solving a complex problem, students need time to just sit with a problem and wrestle with it, maybe even leaving it and coming back to it after a period of time.

This might mean we need to give them fewer problems but go deeper with those problems we give them. We can also speed up processing time when we allow for collaboration and talk time with peers on problem-solving tasks. 

5. Ask questions that let Students do the thinking

Questions or prompts during problem-solving should be very open-ended to promote thinking. Telling a student to reread the problem or to think about what tools or resources would help them solve it is a way to get them to try something new but not take over their thinking.

These skills are also transferable across content, and students will be reminded, “Good readers and mathematicians reread.” 

6. Spiral concepts so students frequently use problem-solving skills

When students don’t have to switch gears in between concepts, they’re not truly using deep problem-solving skills. They already kind of know what operation it might be or that it’s something they have at the forefront of their mind from recent learning. Being intentional within their learning stations and assessments about having a variety of rigorous problem-solving skills will refine their critical thinking abilities while building more and more resilience throughout the school year as they retain content learning in the process. 

Problem-solving skills are so abstract, and it can be tough to pinpoint exactly what students need. Sometimes we have to go slow to go fast. Slowing down and helping students have tools when they get stuck and enabling them to be critical thinkers will prepare them for life and allow them multiple ways to get to their own destination.

120 Math Word Problems To Challenge Students Grades 1 to 8

Written by Marcus Guido

• Teaching Tools

• Subtraction
• Multiplication
• Mixed operations
• Ordering and number sense
• Comparing and sequencing
• Physical measurement
• Ratios and percentages
• Probability and data relationships

You sit at your desk, ready to put a math quiz, test or activity together. The questions flow onto the document until you hit a section for word problems.

A jolt of creativity would help. But it doesn’t come.

Whether you’re a 3rd grade teacher or an 8th grade teacher preparing students for high school, translating math concepts into real world examples can certainly be a challenge.

This resource is your jolt of creativity. It provides examples and templates of math word problems for 1st to 8th grade classes . ( See our entire list of back to school resources for teachers here .)

There are 120 examples in total.

The list of examples is supplemented by tips to create engaging and challenging math word problems.

120 Math word problems, categorized by skill

Addition word problems.

Best for: 1st grade, 2nd grade

1. Adding to 10: Ariel was playing basketball. 1 of her shots went in the hoop. 2 of her shots did not go in the hoop. How many shots were there in total?

2. Adding to 20: Adrianna has 10 pieces of gum to share with her friends. There wasn’t enough gum for all her friends, so she went to the store to get 3 more pieces of gum. How many pieces of gum does Adrianna have now?

3. Adding to 100: Adrianna has 10 pieces of gum to share with her friends. There wasn’t enough gum for all her friends, so she went to the store and got 70 pieces of strawberry gum and 10 pieces of bubble gum. How many pieces of gum does Adrianna have now?

4. Adding Slightly over 100: The restaurant has 175 normal chairs and 20 chairs for babies. How many chairs does the restaurant have in total?

5. Adding to 1,000: How many cookies did you sell if you sold 320 chocolate cookies and 270 vanilla cookies?

6. Adding to and over 10,000: The hobby store normally sells 10,576 trading cards per month. In June, the hobby store sold 15,498 more trading cards than normal. In total, how many trading cards did the hobby store sell in June?

7. Adding 3 Numbers: Billy had 2 books at home. He went to the library to take out 2 more books. He then bought 1 book. How many books does Billy have now?

8. Adding 3 Numbers to and over 100: Ashley bought a big bag of candy. The bag had 102 blue candies, 100 red candies and 94 green candies. How many candies were there in total?

Subtraction word problems

Best for: 1st grade, second grade

9. Subtracting to 10: There were 3 pizzas in total at the pizza shop. A customer bought 1 pizza. How many pizzas are left?

10. Subtracting to 20: Your friend said she had 11 stickers. When you helped her clean her desk, she only had a total of 10 stickers. How many stickers are missing?

11. Subtracting to 100: Adrianna has 100 pieces of gum to share with her friends. When she went to the park, she shared 10 pieces of strawberry gum. When she left the park, Adrianna shared another 10 pieces of bubble gum. How many pieces of gum does Adrianna have now?

Practice math word problems with Prodigy Math

Join millions of teachers using Prodigy to make learning fun and differentiate instruction as they answer in-game questions, including math word problems from 1st to 8th grade!

12. Subtracting Slightly over 100: Your team scored a total of 123 points. 67 points were scored in the first half. How many were scored in the second half?

13. Subtracting to 1,000: Nathan has a big ant farm. He decided to sell some of his ants. He started with 965 ants. He sold 213. How many ants does he have now?

14. Subtracting to and over 10,000: The hobby store normally sells 10,576 trading cards per month. In July, the hobby store sold a total of 20,777 trading cards. How many more trading cards did the hobby store sell in July compared with a normal month?

15. Subtracting 3 Numbers: Charlene had a pack of 35 pencil crayons. She gave 6 to her friend Theresa. She gave 3 to her friend Mandy. How many pencil crayons does Charlene have left?

16. Subtracting 3 Numbers to and over 100: Ashley bought a big bag of candy to share with her friends. In total, there were 296 candies. She gave 105 candies to Marissa. She also gave 86 candies to Kayla. How many candies were left?

Multiplication word problems

Best for: 2nd grade, 3rd grade

17. Multiplying 1-Digit Integers: Adrianna needs to cut a pan of brownies into pieces. She cuts 6 even columns and 3 even rows into the pan. How many brownies does she have?

18. Multiplying 2-Digit Integers: A movie theatre has 25 rows of seats with 20 seats in each row. How many seats are there in total?

19. Multiplying Integers Ending with 0: A clothing company has 4 different kinds of sweatshirts. Each year, the company makes 60,000 of each kind of sweatshirt. How many sweatshirts does the company make each year?

20. Multiplying 3 Integers: A bricklayer stacks bricks in 2 rows, with 10 bricks in each row. On top of each row, there is a stack of 6 bricks. How many bricks are there in total?

21. Multiplying 4 Integers: Cayley earns $5 an hour by delivering newspapers. She delivers newspapers 3 days each week, for 4 hours at a time. After delivering newspapers for 8 weeks, how much money will Cayley earn?

Division word problems

Best for: 3rd grade, 4th grade, 5th grade

22. Dividing 1-Digit Integers: If you have 4 pieces of candy split evenly into 2 bags, how many pieces of candy are in each bag?

23. Dividing 2-Digit Integers: If you have 80 tickets for the fair and each ride costs 5 tickets, how many rides can you go on?

24. Dividing Numbers Ending with 0: The school has $20,000 to buy new computer equipment. If each piece of equipment costs $50, how many pieces can the school buy in total?

25. Dividing 3 Integers: Melissa buys 2 packs of tennis balls for $12 in total. All together, there are 6 tennis balls. How much does 1 pack of tennis balls cost? How much does 1 tennis ball cost?

26. Interpreting Remainders: An Italian restaurant receives a shipment of 86 veal cutlets. If it takes 3 cutlets to make a dish, how many cutlets will the restaurant have left over after making as many dishes as possible?

Mixed operations word problems

27. Mixing Addition and Subtraction: There are 235 books in a library. On Monday, 123 books are taken out. On Tuesday, 56 books are brought back. How many books are there now?

28. Mixing Multiplication and Division: There is a group of 10 people who are ordering pizza. If each person gets 2 slices and each pizza has 4 slices, how many pizzas should they order?

29. Mixing Multiplication, Addition and Subtraction: Lana has 2 bags with 2 marbles in each bag. Markus has 2 bags with 3 marbles in each bag. How many more marbles does Markus have?

30. Mixing Division, Addition and Subtraction: Lana has 3 bags with the same amount of marbles in them, totaling 12 marbles. Markus has 3 bags with the same amount of marbles in them, totaling 18 marbles. How many more marbles does Markus have in each bag?

Ordering and number sense word problems

31. Counting to Preview Multiplication: There are 2 chalkboards in your classroom. If each chalkboard needs 2 pieces of chalk, how many pieces do you need in total?

32. Counting to Preview Division: There are 3 chalkboards in your classroom. Each chalkboard has 2 pieces of chalk. This means there are 6 pieces of chalk in total. If you take 1 piece of chalk away from each chalkboard, how many will there be in total?

33. Composing Numbers: What number is 6 tens and 10 ones?

34. Guessing Numbers: I have a 7 in the tens place. I have an even number in the ones place. I am lower than 74. What number am I?

35. Finding the Order: In the hockey game, Mitchell scored more points than William but fewer points than Auston. Who scored the most points? Who scored the fewest points?

Fractions word problems

Best for: 3rd grade, 4th grade, 5th grade, 6th grade

36. Finding Fractions of a Group: Julia went to 10 houses on her street for Halloween. 5 of the houses gave her a chocolate bar. What fraction of houses on Julia’s street gave her a chocolate bar?

37. Finding Unit Fractions: Heather is painting a portrait of her best friend, Lisa. To make it easier, she divides the portrait into 6 equal parts. What fraction represents each part of the portrait?

38. Adding Fractions with Like Denominators: Noah walks ⅓ of a kilometre to school each day. He also walks ⅓ of a kilometre to get home after school. How many kilometres does he walk in total?

39. Subtracting Fractions with Like Denominators: Last week, Whitney counted the number of juice boxes she had for school lunches. She had ⅗ of a case. This week, it’s down to ⅕ of a case. How much of the case did Whitney drink?

40. Adding Whole Numbers and Fractions with Like Denominators: At lunchtime, an ice cream parlor served 6 ¼ scoops of chocolate ice cream, 5 ¾ scoops of vanilla and 2 ¾ scoops of strawberry. How many scoops of ice cream did the parlor serve in total?

41. Subtracting Whole Numbers and Fractions with Like Denominators: For a party, Jaime had 5 ⅓ bottles of cola for her friends to drink. She drank ⅓ of a bottle herself. Her friends drank 3 ⅓. How many bottles of cola does Jaime have left?

42. Adding Fractions with Unlike Denominators: Kevin completed ½ of an assignment at school. When he was home that evening, he completed ⅚ of another assignment. How many assignments did Kevin complete?

43. Subtracting Fractions with Unlike Denominators: Packing school lunches for her kids, Patty used ⅞ of a package of ham. She also used ½ of a package of turkey. How much more ham than turkey did Patty use?

44. Multiplying Fractions: During gym class on Wednesday, the students ran for ¼ of a kilometre. On Thursday, they ran ½ as many kilometres as on Wednesday. How many kilometres did the students run on Thursday? Write your answer as a fraction.

45. Dividing Fractions: A clothing manufacturer uses ⅕ of a bottle of colour dye to make one pair of pants. The manufacturer used ⅘ of a bottle yesterday. How many pairs of pants did the manufacturer make?

46. Multiplying Fractions with Whole Numbers: Mark drank ⅚ of a carton of milk this week. Frank drank 7 times more milk than Mark. How many cartons of milk did Frank drink? Write your answer as a fraction, or as a whole or mixed number.

Decimals word problems

Best for: 4th grade, 5th grade

47. Adding Decimals: You have 2.6 grams of yogurt in your bowl and you add another spoonful of 1.3 grams. How much yogurt do you have in total?

48. Subtracting Decimals: Gemma had 25.75 grams of frosting to make a cake. She decided to use only 15.5 grams of the frosting. How much frosting does Gemma have left?

49. Multiplying Decimals with Whole Numbers: Marshall walks a total of 0.9 kilometres to and from school each day. After 4 days, how many kilometres will he have walked?

50. Dividing Decimals by Whole Numbers: To make the Leaning Tower of Pisa from spaghetti, Mrs. Robinson bought 2.5 kilograms of spaghetti. Her students were able to make 10 leaning towers in total. How many kilograms of spaghetti does it take to make 1 leaning tower?

51. Mixing Addition and Subtraction of Decimals: Rocco has 1.5 litres of orange soda and 2.25 litres of grape soda in his fridge. Antonio has 1.15 litres of orange soda and 0.62 litres of grape soda. How much more soda does Rocco have than Angelo?

52. Mixing Multiplication and Division of Decimals: 4 days a week, Laura practices martial arts for 1.5 hours. Considering a week is 7 days, what is her average practice time per day each week?

Comparing and sequencing word problems

Best for: Kindergarten, 1st grade, 2nd grade

53. Comparing 1-Digit Integers: You have 3 apples and your friend has 5 apples. Who has more?

54. Comparing 2-Digit Integers: You have 50 candies and your friend has 75 candies. Who has more?

55. Comparing Different Variables: There are 5 basketballs on the playground. There are 7 footballs on the playground. Are there more basketballs or footballs?

56. Sequencing 1-Digit Integers: Erik has 0 stickers. Every day he gets 1 more sticker. How many days until he gets 3 stickers?

57. Skip-Counting by Odd Numbers: Natalie began at 5. She skip-counted by fives. Could she have said the number 20?

58. Skip-Counting by Even Numbers: Natasha began at 0. She skip-counted by eights. Could she have said the number 36?

59. Sequencing 2-Digit Numbers: Each month, Jeremy adds the same number of cards to his baseball card collection. In January, he had 36. 48 in February. 60 in March. How many baseball cards will Jeremy have in April?

Time word problems

66. Converting Hours into Minutes: Jeremy helped his mom for 1 hour. For how many minutes was he helping her?

69. Adding Time: If you wake up at 7:00 a.m. and it takes you 1 hour and 30 minutes to get ready and walk to school, at what time will you get to school?

70. Subtracting Time: If a train departs at 2:00 p.m. and arrives at 4:00 p.m., how long were passengers on the train for?

71. Finding Start and End Times: Rebecca left her dad’s store to go home at twenty to seven in the evening. Forty minutes later, she was home. What time was it when she arrived home?

Money word problems

Best for: 1st grade, 2nd grade, 3rd grade, 4th grade, 5th grade

60. Adding Money: Thomas and Matthew are saving up money to buy a video game together. Thomas has saved $30. Matthew has saved $35. How much money have they saved up together in total?

61. Subtracting Money: Thomas has $80 saved up. He uses his money to buy a video game. The video game costs $67. How much money does he have left?

62. Multiplying Money: Tim gets $5 for delivering the paper. How much money will he have after delivering the paper 3 times?

63. Dividing Money: Robert spent $184.59 to buy 3 hockey sticks. If each hockey stick was the same price, how much did 1 cost?

64. Adding Money with Decimals: You went to the store and bought gum for $1.25 and a sucker for $0.50. How much was your total?

65. Subtracting Money with Decimals: You went to the store with $5.50. You bought gum for $1.25, a chocolate bar for $1.15 and a sucker for $0.50. How much money do you have left?

67. Applying Proportional Relationships to Money: Jakob wants to invite 20 friends to his birthday, which will cost his parents $250. If he decides to invite 15 friends instead, how much money will it cost his parents? Assume the relationship is directly proportional.

68. Applying Percentages to Money: Retta put $100.00 in a bank account that gains 20% interest annually. How much interest will be accumulated in 1 year? And if she makes no withdrawals, how much money will be in the account after 1 year?

Physical measurement word problems

Best for: 1st grade, 2nd grade, 3rd grade, 4th grade

72. Comparing Measurements: Cassandra’s ruler is 22 centimetres long. April’s ruler is 30 centimetres long. How many centimetres longer is April’s ruler?

73. Contextualizing Measurements: Picture a school bus. Which unit of measurement would best describe the length of the bus? Centimetres, metres or kilometres?

74. Adding Measurements: Micha’s dad wants to try to save money on gas, so he has been tracking how much he uses. Last year, Micha’s dad used 100 litres of gas. This year, her dad used 90 litres of gas. How much gas did he use in total for the two years?

75. Subtracting Measurements: Micha’s dad wants to try to save money on gas, so he has been tracking how much he uses. Over the past two years, Micha’s dad used 200 litres of gas. This year, he used 100 litres of gas. How much gas did he use last year?

76. Multiplying Volume and Mass: Kiera wants to make sure she has strong bones, so she drinks 2 litres of milk every week. After 3 weeks, how many litres of milk will Kiera drink?

77. Dividing Volume and Mass: Lillian is doing some gardening, so she bought 1 kilogram of soil. She wants to spread the soil evenly between her 2 plants. How much will each plant get?

78. Converting Mass: Inger goes to the grocery store and buys 3 squashes that each weigh 500 grams. How many kilograms of squash did Inger buy?

79. Converting Volume: Shad has a lemonade stand and sold 20 cups of lemonade. Each cup was 500 millilitres. How many litres did Shad sell in total?

80. Converting Length: Stacy and Milda are comparing their heights. Stacy is 1.5 meters tall. Milda is 10 centimetres taller than Stacy. What is Milda’s height in centimetres?

81. Understanding Distance and Direction: A bus leaves the school to take students on a field trip. The bus travels 10 kilometres south, 10 kilometres west, another 5 kilometres south and 15 kilometres north. To return to the school, in which direction does the bus have to travel? How many kilometres must it travel in that direction?

Ratios and percentages word problems

Best for: 4th grade, 5th grade, 6th grade

82. Finding a Missing Number: The ratio of Jenny’s trophies to Meredith’s trophies is 7:4. Jenny has 28 trophies. How many does Meredith have?

83. Finding Missing Numbers: The ratio of Jenny’s trophies to Meredith’s trophies is 7:4. The difference between the numbers is 12. What are the numbers?

84. Comparing Ratios: The school’s junior band has 10 saxophone players and 20 trumpet players. The school’s senior band has 18 saxophone players and 29 trumpet players. Which band has the higher ratio of trumpet to saxophone players?

85. Determining Percentages: Mary surveyed students in her school to find out what their favourite sports were. Out of 1,200 students, 455 said hockey was their favourite sport. What percentage of students said hockey was their favourite sport?

86. Determining Percent of Change: A decade ago, Oakville’s population was 67,624 people. Now, it is 190% larger. What is Oakville’s current population?

87. Determining Percents of Numbers: At the ice skate rental stand, 60% of 120 skates are for boys. If the rest of the skates are for girls, how many are there?

88. Calculating Averages: For 4 weeks, William volunteered as a helper for swimming classes. The first week, he volunteered for 8 hours. He volunteered for 12 hours in the second week, and another 12 hours in the third week. The fourth week, he volunteered for 9 hours. For how many hours did he volunteer per week, on average?

Probability and data relationships word problems

Best for: 4th grade, 5th grade, 6th grade, 7th grade

89. Understanding the Premise of Probability: John wants to know his class’s favourite TV show, so he surveys all of the boys. Will the sample be representative or biased?

90. Understanding Tangible Probability: The faces on a fair number die are labelled 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6. You roll the die 12 times. How many times should you expect to roll a 1?

91. Exploring Complementary Events: The numbers 1 to 50 are in a hat. If the probability of drawing an even number is 25/50, what is the probability of NOT drawing an even number? Express this probability as a fraction.

92. Exploring Experimental Probability: A pizza shop has recently sold 15 pizzas. 5 of those pizzas were pepperoni. Answering with a fraction, what is the experimental probability that he next pizza will be pepperoni?

93. Introducing Data Relationships: Maurita and Felice each take 4 tests. Here are the results of Maurita’s 4 tests: 4, 4, 4, 4. Here are the results for 3 of Felice’s 4 tests: 3, 3, 3. If Maurita’s mean for the 4 tests is 1 point higher than Felice’s, what’s the score of Felice’s 4th test?

94. Introducing Proportional Relationships: Store A is selling 7 pounds of bananas for $7.00. Store B is selling 3 pounds of bananas for $6.00. Which store has the better deal?

95. Writing Equations for Proportional Relationships: Lionel loves soccer, but has trouble motivating himself to practice. So, he incentivizes himself through video games. There is a proportional relationship between the amount of drills Lionel completes, in x , and for how many hours he plays video games, in y . When Lionel completes 10 drills, he plays video games for 30 minutes. Write the equation for the relationship between x and y .

Geometry word problems

Best for: 4th grade, 5th grade, 6th grade, 7th grade, 8th grade

96. Introducing Perimeter:  The theatre has 4 chairs in a row. There are 5 rows. Using rows as your unit of measurement, what is the perimeter?

97. Introducing Area: The theatre has 4 chairs in a row. There are 5 rows. How many chairs are there in total?

98. Introducing Volume: Aaron wants to know how much candy his container can hold. The container is 20 centimetres tall, 10 centimetres long and 10 centimetres wide. What is the container’s volume?

99. Understanding 2D Shapes: Kevin draws a shape with 4 equal sides. What shape did he draw?

100. Finding the Perimeter of 2D Shapes: Mitchell wrote his homework questions on a piece of square paper. Each side of the paper is 8 centimetres. What is the perimeter?

101. Determining the Area of 2D Shapes: A single trading card is 9 centimetres long by 6 centimetres wide. What is its area?

102. Understanding 3D Shapes: Martha draws a shape that has 6 square faces. What shape did she draw?

103. Determining the Surface Area of 3D Shapes: What is the surface area of a cube that has a width of 2cm, height of 2 cm and length of 2 cm?

104. Determining the Volume of 3D Shapes: Aaron’s candy container is 20 centimetres tall, 10 centimetres long and 10 centimetres wide. Bruce’s container is 25 centimetres tall, 9 centimetres long and 9 centimetres wide. Find the volume of each container. Based on volume, whose container can hold more candy?

105. Identifying Right-Angled Triangles: A triangle has the following side lengths: 3 cm, 4 cm and 5 cm. Is this triangle a right-angled triangle?

106. Identifying Equilateral Triangles: A triangle has the following side lengths: 4 cm, 4 cm and 4 cm. What kind of triangle is it?

107. Identifying Isosceles Triangles: A triangle has the following side lengths: 4 cm, 5 cm and 5 cm. What kind of triangle is it?

108. Identifying Scalene Triangles: A triangle has the following side lengths: 4 cm, 5 cm and 6 cm. What kind of triangle is it?

109. Finding the Perimeter of Triangles: Luigi built a tent in the shape of an equilateral triangle. The perimeter is 21 metres. What is the length of each of the tent’s sides?

110. Determining the Area of Triangles: What is the area of a triangle with a base of 2 units and a height of 3 units?

111. Applying Pythagorean Theorem: A right triangle has one non-hypotenuse side length of 3 inches and the hypotenuse measures 5 inches. What is the length of the other non-hypotenuse side?

112. Finding a Circle’s Diameter: Jasmin bought a new round backpack. Its area is 370 square centimetres. What is the round backpack’s diameter?

113. Finding a Circle's Area: Captain America’s circular shield has a diameter of 76.2 centimetres. What is the area of his shield?

114. Finding a Circle’s Radius: Skylar lives on a farm, where his dad keeps a circular corn maze. The corn maze has a diameter of 2 kilometres. What is the maze’s radius?

Variables word problems

Best for: 6th grade, 7th grade, 8th grade

115. Identifying Independent and Dependent Variables: Victoria is baking muffins for her class. The number of muffins she makes is based on how many classmates she has. For this equation, m is the number of muffins and c is the number of classmates. Which variable is independent and which variable is dependent?

116. Writing Variable Expressions for Addition: Last soccer season, Trish scored g goals. Alexa scored 4 more goals than Trish. Write an expression that shows how many goals Alexa scored.

117. Writing Variable Expressions for Subtraction: Elizabeth eats a healthy, balanced breakfast b times a week. Madison sometimes skips breakfast. In total, Madison eats 3 fewer breakfasts a week than Elizabeth. Write an expression that shows how many times a week Madison eats breakfast.

118. Writing Variable Expressions for Multiplication: Last hockey season, Jack scored g goals. Patrik scored twice as many goals than Jack. Write an expression that shows how many goals Patrik scored.

119. Writing Variable Expressions for Division: Amanda has c chocolate bars. She wants to distribute the chocolate bars evenly among 3 friends. Write an expression that shows how many chocolate bars 1 of her friends will receive.

120. Solving Two-Variable Equations: This equation shows how the amount Lucas earns from his after-school job depends on how many hours he works: e = 12h . The variable h represents how many hours he works. The variable e represents how much money he earns. How much money will Lucas earn after working for 6 hours?

How to easily make your own math word problems & word problems worksheets

Armed with 120 examples to spark ideas, making your own math word problems can engage your students and ensure alignment with lessons. Do:

• Link to Student Interests:  By framing your word problems with student interests, you’ll likely grab attention. For example, if most of your class loves American football, a measurement problem could involve the throwing distance of a famous quarterback.
• Make Questions Topical:  Writing a word problem that reflects current events or issues can engage students by giving them a clear, tangible way to apply their knowledge.
• Include Student Names:  Naming a question’s characters after your students is an easy way make subject matter relatable, helping them work through the problem.
• Be Explicit:  Repeating keywords distills the question, helping students focus on the core problem.
• Test Reading Comprehension:  Flowery word choice and long sentences can hide a question’s key elements. Instead, use concise phrasing and grade-level vocabulary.
• Focus on Similar Interests:  Framing too many questions with related interests -- such as football and basketball -- can alienate or disengage some students.
• Feature Red Herrings:  Including unnecessary information introduces another problem-solving element, overwhelming many elementary students.

A key to differentiated instruction , word problems that students can relate to and contextualize will capture interest more than generic and abstract ones.

Final thoughts about math word problems

You’ll likely get the most out of this resource by using the problems as templates, slightly modifying them by applying the above tips. In doing so, they’ll be more relevant to -- and engaging for -- your students.

Regardless, having 120 curriculum-aligned math word problems at your fingertips should help you deliver skill-building challenges and thought-provoking assessments.

The result?

A greater understanding of how your students process content and demonstrate understanding, informing your ongoing teaching approach.

Try Prodigy

There's no cost to you or your students and Prodigy is fully aligned with state standards for grades 1-8 math.

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Problem-Based Tasks in Math

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Providing students with opportunities to grapple with math has led to amazing things happening in my class. Students are totally excited and are driven to figure out not just how to solve a problem but why it works.

– Jessica Proffitt, Fifth-Grade Teacher at Two Rivers

Watch two rivers’s teachers and students at work on problem-based tasks in math.

Problem-Based Tasks Require Students to Apply Their Knowledge in New Contexts

Problem-based tasks are math lessons built around a single, compelling problem. The problems are truly “problematic” for students — that is, they do not offer an immediate solution.

The problems provide an opportunity for students to build conceptual understanding. Problem-based tasks require students to apply their current understanding and skills to new contexts that highlight core math concepts. For example, when students solve a problem that could be solved with multiplication before they have formally been taught what multiplication is and how it works, they build an understanding that multiplication is repeated addition.

Well-designed problem-based tasks provide multiple entry points for students to engage in problem solving, ensuring that all students have access to the same concepts. When students solve the problems in different ways—including drawing pictures, acting out the problem, writing algorithms, and using manipulatives—they make connections between the variety of models that all accurately illustrate the underlying mathematics.

Problem-Based Tasks in Math Resources

Over 5 Billion Problems Solved

Step-by-step examples.

• Adding Using Long Addition
• Long Subtraction
• Long Multiplication
• Long Division
• Dividing Using Partial Quotients Division
• Converting Regular to Scientific Notation
• Arranging a List in Order
• Expanded Notation
• Prime or Composite
• Comparing Expressions
• Converting to a Percentage
• Finding the Additive Inverse
• Finding the Multiplicative Inverse
• Reducing Fractions
• Finding the Reciprocal
• Converting to a Decimal
• Converting to a Mixed Number
• Adding Fractions
• Subtracting Fractions
• Multiplying Fractions
• Dividing Fractions
• Converting Ratios to Fractions
• Converting Percents to Decimal
• Converting Percents to Fractions
• Converting the Percent Grade to Degree
• Converting the Degree to Percent Grade
• Finding the Area of a Rectangle
• Finding the Perimeter of a Rectangle
• Finding the Area of a Square
• Finding the Perimeter of a Square
• Finding the Area of a Circle
• Finding the Circumference of a Circle
• Finding the Area of a Triangle
• Finding the Area of a Trapezoid
• Finding the Volume of a Box
• Finding the Volume of a Cylinder
• Finding the Volume of a Cone
• Finding the Volume of a Pyramid
• Finding the Volume of a Sphere
• Finding the Surface Area of a Box
• Finding the Surface Area of a Cylinder
• Finding the Surface Area of a Cone
• Finding the Surface Area of a Pyramid
• Converting to a Fraction
• Simple Exponents
• Prime Factorizations
• Finding the Factors
• Simplifying Fractions
• Converting Grams to Kilograms
• Converting Grams to Pounds
• Converting Grams to Ounces
• Converting Feet to Inches
• Converting to Meters
• Converting Feet to Miles
• Converting Feet to Yards
• Converting to Feet
• Converting to Yards
• Converting Miles to Feet
• Converting Miles to Kilometers
• Converting Miles to Yards
• Converting Kilometers to Miles
• Converting Kilometers to Meters
• Converting Meters to Feet
• Converting Meters to Inches
• Converting Ounces to Grams
• Converting Ounces to Pounds
• Converting Ounces to Tons
• Converting Pounds to Grams
• Converting Pounds to Ounces
• Converting Pounds to Tons
• Converting Yards to Feet
• Converting Yards to Millimeters
• Converting Yards to Inches
• Converting Yards to Miles
• Converting Yards to Meters
• Converting Fahrenheit to Celsius
• Converting Celsius to Fahrenheit
• Finding the Median
• Finding the Mean (Arithmetic)
• Finding the Mode
• Finding the Minimum
• Finding the Maximum
• Finding the Lower or First Quartile
• Finding the Upper or Third Quartile
• Finding the Five Number Summary
• Finding a Point's Quadrant
• Finding the Midpoint of a Line Segment
• Distance Formula
• Arithmetic Operations
• Combining Like Terms
• Determining if the Expression is a Polynomial
• Distributive Property
• Simplifying
• Multiplication
• Polynomial Addition
• Polynomial Subtraction
• Polynomial Multiplication
• Polynomial Division
• Simplifying Expressions
• Evaluate the Expression Using the Given Values
• Multiplying Polynomials Using FOIL
• Identifying Degree
• Operations on Polynomials
• Negative Exponents
• Evaluating Radicals
• Solving by Adding/Subtracting
• Solving by Multiplying/Dividing
• Solving Containing Decimals
• Solving for a Variable
• Solving Linear Equations
• Solving Linear Inequalities
• Finding the Quadratic Constant of Variation
• Converting the Percent Grade to Slope
• Converting the Slope to Percent Grade
• Finding Equations Using Slope-Intercept
• Finding the Slope
• Finding the y Intercept
• Calculating Slope and y-Intercept
• Rewriting in Slope-Intercept Form
• Finding Equations Using the Slope-Intercept Formula
• Finding Equations Using Two Points
• Finding a Perpendicular Line Containing a Given Point
• Finding a Parallel Line Containing a Given Point
• Finding a Parallel Line to the Given Line
• Finding a Perpendicular Line to the Given Line
• Finding Ordered Pair Solutions
• Using a Table of Values to Graph an Equation
• Finding the Equation Using Point-Slope Form
• Finding the Surface Area of a Sphere
• Solving by Graphing
• Finding the LCM of a List of Expressions
• Finding the LCD of a List of Expressions
• Determining if the Number is a Perfect Square
• Finding the Domain
• Evaluating the Difference Quotient
• Solving Using the Square Root Property
• Determining if True
• Finding the Holes in a Graph
• Finding the Common Factors
• Expand a Trinomial with the Trinomial Theorem
• Finding the Start Point Given the Mid and End Points
• Finding the End Point Given the Start and Mid Points
• Finding the Slope and y-Intercept
• Finding the Equation of the Parabola
• Finding the Average Rate of Change
• Finding the Slope of the Perpendicular Line to the Line Through the Two Points
• Rewriting Using Negative Exponents
• Synthetic Division
• Maximum Number of Real Roots/Zeros
• Finding All Possible Roots/Zeros (RRT)
• Finding All Roots with Rational Root Test (RRT)
• Finding the Remainder
• Finding the Remainder Using Long Polynomial Division
• Reordering the Polynomial in Ascending Order
• Reordering the Polynomial in Descending Order
• Finding the Leading Term
• Finding the Leading Coefficient
• Finding the Degree, Leading Term, and Leading Coefficient
• Finding the GCF of a Polynomial
• Factoring Out Greatest Common Factor (GCF)
• Identifying the Common Factors
• Cancelling the Common Factors
• Finding the LCM using GCF
• Finding the GCF
• Factoring Trinomials
• Trinomial Squares
• Factoring Using Any Method
• Factoring a Difference of Squares
• Factoring a Sum of Cubes
• Factoring by Grouping
• Factoring a Difference of Cubes
• Determine if an Expression is a Factor
• Determining if Factor Using Synthetic Division
• Find the Factors Using the Factor Theorem
• Determining if Polynomial is Prime
• Determining if the Polynomial is a Perfect Square
• Expand using the Binomial Theorem
• Factoring over the Complex Numbers
• Finding All Integers k Such That the Trinomial Can Be Factored
• Determining if Linear
• Rewriting in Standard Form
• Finding x and y Intercepts
• Finding Equations Using the Point Slope Formula
• Finding Equations Given Point and y-Intercept
• Finding the Constant Using Slope
• Finding the Slope of a Parallel Line
• Finding the Slope of a Perpendicular Line
• Simplifying Absolute Value Expressions
• Solving with Absolute Values
• Finding the Vertex for the Absolute Value
• Rewriting the Absolute Value as Piecewise
• Calculating the Square Root
• Simplifying Radical Expressions
• Rationalizing Radical Expressions
• Solving Radical Equations
• Rewriting with Rational (Fractional) Exponents
• Finding the Square Root End Point
• Operations on Rational Expressions
• Determining if the Point is a Solution
• Solving over the Interval
• Finding the Range
• Finding the Domain and Range
• Solving Rational Equations
• Adding Rational Expressions
• Subtracting Rational Expressions
• Multiplying Rational Expressions
• Finding the Equation Given the Roots
• Finding the Asymptotes
• Finding the Constant of Variation
• Finding the Equation of Variation
• Substitution Method
• Addition/Elimination Method
• Graphing Method
• Determining Parallel Lines
• Determining Perpendicular Lines
• Dependent, Independent, and Inconsistent Systems
• Finding the Intersection (and)
• Using the Simplex Method for Constraint Maximization
• Using the Simplex Method for Constraint Minimization
• Finding the Union (or)
• Finding the Equation with Real Coefficients
• Solving in Terms of the Arbitrary Variable
• Finding a Direct Variation Equation
• Finding the Slope for Every Equation
• Finding a Variable Using the Constant of Variation
• Quadratic Formula
• Solving by Factoring
• Solve by Completing the Square
• Finding the Perfect Square Trinomial
• Finding the Quadratic Equation Given the Solution Set
• Finding a,b, and c in the Standard Form
• Finding the Discriminant
• Finding the Zeros by Completing the Square
• Quadratic Inequalities
• Rational Inequalities
• Converting from Interval to Inequality
• Converting to Interval Notation
• Rewriting as a Single Interval
• Determining if the Relation is a Function
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Fun teaching resources & tips to help you teach math with confidence

Math Strategies: Problem Solving by Finding a Pattern

One important math concept that children begin to learn and apply in elementary school is reading and using a table. This is essential knowledge, because we encounter tables of data all the time in our everyday lives! But it’s not just important that kids can read and answer questions based on information in a table, it’s also important that they know how to create their own table and then use it to solve problems, find patterns, graph equations, and so on. And while some may think of these as two different things, I think problem solving by making a table and finding a pattern go hand in hand!

–>Pssst! Do your kids need help making sense of and solving word problems? You might like this set of editable word problem solving templates ! Use these with any grade level, for any type of word problem :

Finding Patterns in Math Problems: 

So when should kids use problem solving by finding a pattern ? Well, when the problem gives a set of data, or a pattern that is continuing and can be arranged in a table, it’s good to consider looking for the pattern and determining the “rule” of the pattern.

As I mentioned when I discussed problem solving by making a list , finding a pattern can be immensely helpful and save a lot of time when working on a word problem. Sometimes, however, a student may not recognize the pattern right away, or may get bogged down with all the details of the question.

Setting up a table and filling in the information given in the question is a great way to organize things and provide a visual so that the “rule” of the pattern can be determined. The “rule” can then be used to find the answer to the question. This removes the tedious work of completing a table, which is especially nice if a lot of computation is involved.

But a table is also great for kids who struggle with math, because it gives them a way to get to the solution even if they have a hard time finding the pattern, or aren’t confident that they are using the “rule” correctly.

Because even though using a known pattern can save you time, and eliminate the need to fill out the entire table, it’s not necessary. A student who is unsure could simply continue filling out their table until they reach the solution they’re looking for.

Helping students learn how to set up a table is also helpful because they can use it to organize information (much like making a list) even if there isn’t a pattern to be found, because it can be done in a systematic way, ensuring that nothing is left out.

If your students are just learning how to read and create tables, I would suggest having them circle their answer in the table to show that they understood the question and knew where in the table to find the answer.

If you have older students, encourage them to find a pattern in the table and explain it in words , and then also with mathematical symbols and/or an equation. This will help them form connections and increase number sense. It will also help them see how to use their “rule” or equation to solve the given question as well as make predictions about the data.

It’s also important for students to consider whether or not their pattern will continue predictably . In some instances, the pattern may look one way for the first few entries, then change, so this is important to consider as the problems get more challenging.

There are tons of examples of problems where creating a table and finding a pattern is a useful strategy, but here’s just one example for you:

Ben decides to prepare for a marathon by running ten minutes a day, six days a week. Each week, he increases his time running by two minutes per day. How many minutes will he run in week 8?

Included in the table is the week number (we’re looking at weeks 1-8), as well as the number of minutes per day and the total minutes for the week. The first step is to fill in the first couple of weeks by calculating the total time.

Once you’ve found weeks 1-3, you may see a pattern and be able to calculate the total minutes for week 8. For example, in this case, the total number of minutes increases by 12 each week, meaning in week 8 he will run for 144 minutes.

If not, however, simply continue with the table until you get to week 8, and then you will have your answer.

I think it is especially important to make it clear to students that it is perfectly acceptable to complete the entire table (or continue a given table) if they don’t see or don’t know how to use the pattern to solve the problem.

I was working with a student once and she was given a table, but was then asked a question about information not included in that table . She was able to tell me the pattern she saw, but wasn’t able to correctly use the “rule” to find the answer. I insisted that she simply extend the table until she found what she needed. Then I showed her how to use the “rule” of the pattern to get the same answer.

I hope you find this helpful! Looking for and finding patterns is such an essential part of mathematics education! If you’re looking for more ideas for exploring patterns with younger kids, check out this post for making patterns with Skittles candy .

And of course, don’t miss the other posts in this Math Problem Solving Series:

• Problem Solving by Solving an Easier Problem
• Problem Solving by Drawing a Picture
• Problem Solving by Working Backwards
• Problem Solving by Making a List

One Comment

I had so much trouble spotting patterns when I was in school. Fortunately for her, my daughter rocks at it! This technique will be helpful for her when she’s a bit older! #ThoughtfulSpot

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Geometry Math Problems - Perimeters

In these lessons, we will learn to solve geometry math problems that involve perimeter.

Related Pages Geometry math problems involving area Area Formula Geometry math problems involving angles More Algebra Word Problems

Geometry word problems involves geometric figures and angles described in words. You would need to be familiar with the formulas in geometry.

Making a sketch of the geometric figure is often helpful.

Geometry Word Problems Involving Perimeter

Example: A triangle has a perimeter of 50. If 2 of its sides are equal and the third side is 5 more than the equal sides, what is the length of the third side?

Solution: Step 1: Assign variables:

Let x = length of the equal sides Sketch the figure

Step 2: Write out the formula for perimeter of triangle .

P = sum of the three sides

Step 3: Plug in the values from the question and from the sketch.

50 = x + x + x+ 5

Combine like terms 50 = 3x + 5

Isolate variable x 3x = 50 – 5 3x = 45 x = 15

Be careful! The question requires the length of the third side.

The length of third side = 15 + 5 = 20

Answer: The length of third side is 20.

Geometry Math Problem involving the perimeter of a rectangle

The following two videos give the perimeter of a rectangle, a relationship between the length and width of the rectangle, and use that information to find the exact value of the length and width.

Example: A rectangular garden is 2.5 times as long as it is wide. It has a perimeter of 168 ft. How long and wide is the garden?

Example: A rectangular landing strip for an airplane has perimeter 8000 ft. If the length is 10 ft longer than 35 times the width, what is the length and width?

Examples of perimeter geometry word problems This video shows how to write an equation and find the dimensions of a rectangle knowing the perimeter and some information about the about the length and width.

Example: The width of a rectangle is 3 ft less than its length. The perimeter of the rectangle is 110 ft. Find the dimensions.

Perimeter Word Problems

Example: The length of a rectangle is 7 cm more than 4 times its width. Its perimeter is 124 cm. Find its dimensions.

Geometry Math Problem involving the perimeter of a triangle

The following two videos give the perimeter of a triangle, a relationship between the sides of the triangle, and use that information to find the exact value or values of the required side or sides.

Example: Patrick’s bike ride follows a triangular path; two legs are equal, the third is 8 miles longer than the other legs. If Patrick rides 30 miles total, what is the length of the longest leg?

Example: The perimeter of a triangle is 56 cm. The first side is 6 cm shorter than the second side. The third side is 2 cm shorter than twice the length of the first side. What is the length of each side?

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Examples of problem-solving strategies in mathematics education supporting the sustainability of 21st-century skills.

1. Introduction

2. scope of 21st-century skills, 3. a short overview of mathematical problem solving.

• Since additional mathematics courses are not an optimal solution, it is more useful to implement the teaching of problem-solving strategies in the existing mathematics education.
• Specific noncognitive and general skills (that are typically underpromoted in education) are highly expected in work. Many of them belong to a high cognitive level, so it is worth paying attention to their improvement during mathematics lessons.
• It is essential to study different facets of some mathematical notions, since they help to understand and design conceptual models that represent the basis of processes and systems in IT fields.
• Mathematics should not be an isolated discipline. Students have to be able to connect knowledge from different mathematical disciplines; for example, to connect algebra and geometry to other knowledge.
• Employers highly favor the ability to apply one’s knowledge and experience to novel, unfamiliar situations. This is presumed to be most effectively fostered when learning occurs in work-based contexts or when replicated in schools. International studies such as the TIMSS (Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study) and PISA (PISA is the OECD’s Program for International Student Assessment) emphasize this dimension in mathematics education using nonroutine tasks from real life.

4. Problem-Solving Activities and Strategies to Develop 21st-Century Skills

4.1. examples and discussions. how pólya’s heuristic principles work in the case of a special problem.

• Step 1. Understanding the Problem
• If the weighing result is that the scales do balance, it means that all coins on the scales are good, and the other coins not used for the given weighing remain suspect.
• If the scales do not balance, it means that all other coins that were not weighted are good, while those weighted are suspect.
• In this latter case, the students need to formulate an additional idea and name this key idea.
• If the scales do not balance, it is needed to distinguish the suspect coins on the two scales and separate them as suspected of being heavier and suspected of being lighter.
• Step 2. Making a Plan
• Planning the First Weighing
• Planning the Second Weighing
• There is no use in measuring suspect coins three by three; they will surely not balance, and the last weighing has to be used for three coins suspected of being lighter and three coins suspected of being heavier.
• There is no use in measuring suspect coins two by two; e.g., in case they balance, one remains with two suspect coins, but one does not know if they are heavier or lighter.
• There is also no use in measuring suspect coins one by one.
• If one tries to analyze other cases, they will get stuck as well. Possible cases are: three suspect against three good coins, or four suspect against four good coins.
• The Second Weighing in Case 1-4-2
• Planning the Third Weighing
• One can separate S 4
• One can separate L 2 , L 3 , and L 4
• One can separate H 1 , H 2 , and H 3
• One can separate L 1 and H 4
• Step 3. Executing the Plan
• Step 4. Feedback

4.2. Examples and Discussions. Problems for Training Pre-Service and In-Service Teachers

4.2.1. multiplication of two natural numbers.

• Step 2. Devising the Plan
• Step 3. Carrying Out the Plan
• Step 4. Looking Back

4.2.2. Introduction of the Binary Number System

• Step 1. Understanding of the Problem

1000

100

100

10

10

10

1

1

1

1

F

E

D

C

B

A

A

A

A

A

A

A

A

A

A

A

B

B

B

B

B

C

C

B

D

B

D	C	B	A	Binary Island gulden representation
1	0	1	0	Binary number system representation

D	C		A
D		B	A

D	C	B
D		B

D	C
D	C

D
D
D

E	D
1	1	0	0	0

5. Discussion and Conclusions

• The rapidly changing environment due to technological disruption, globalization, and climate change, which requires the development of new transversal skills through education.
• Cross-curricular integration helps students and learners to remember math knowledge better and to link it to real-life situations, allowing them to connect different subject areas.

Author Contributions

Acknowledgments, conflicts of interest.

Click here to enlarge figure

• − problem tasks;
• − historical notes;
• − various small projects supporting interdisciplinary relationships, e.g., mathematics and art, Euclid, mathematics and space, mathematics and center of gravity, mathematics and the game billiards;
• − information documenting the current and historical use of mathematics.
• Davis, J.P. Applied Mathematics as Social Contract. Math. Mag. 1988 , 61 , 139–147. [ Google Scholar ] [ CrossRef ]
• Brynjolfsson, E.; McAfee, A. Race against the Machine: How the Digital Revolution Is Accelerating Innovation, Driving Productivity, and Irreversibly Transforming Employment and The Economy ; Digital Frontier Press: Lexington, MA, USA, 2011; Available online: http://b1ca250e5ed661ccf2f1-da4c182123f5956a3d22aa43eb816232.r10.cf1.rackcdn.com/contentItem-5422867-40675649-ew37tmdujwhnj-or.pdf (accessed on 12 September 2020).
• English, D.; Gainsburg, J. Problem Solving for the 21st Century Mathematics Curriculum. Available online: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/42424489_Problem_Solving_for_the_21st_Century (accessed on 23 September 2020).
• OECD. Education Policy Analysis ; OECD Publishing: Paris, France, 2001. [ Google Scholar ] [ CrossRef ]
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Case	Outcome of the Weighing	Information	How Can One Use It?
1-3-1	They balance	The six coins on the scales of the balance are all good, and the other six are suspect.	One can separate them, and denote them if needed by G , G , …, G and S , S , …, S .
1-3-2	They do not balance	The six coins on the balance will be suspect—three of them suspected of being heavier and three of them suspected of being lighter—and the other six are good.	One will introduce the notations: H , H , and H for those suspected of being heavier, or L , L , and L for those suspected of being lighter, and G , G , …, G for the good ones.

Case	Outcome of the Weighing	Information	How Can One Use It?
1-4-1	They balance	The eight coins on the scales of the balance are all good, and the other four are suspect.	One can separate them and denote them if needed by G , G , …, G and S , S , …, S .
1-4-2	They do not balance	The eight coins on the balance will be suspect—four of them suspected of being heavier, and four of them suspected of being lighter—the other four that were not measured are good.	One will use the notations: H , H , H , and H for those suspected of being heavier, or L , L , L , and L for those suspected of being lighter, while G , G , …, G will denote the good ones.

Case	Outcome of the Weighing	Information	How Can One Use It?
2-3-1	They balance	The six coins on the scales of the balance are all good, the last suspect, and S remains suspect.	One can separate S .
2-3-2	They do not balance	The three suspect coins on the balance will remain suspect, but extra information is obtained if they are suspected of being heavier or lighter.	One will change the notations, according to the result of the weighing, to H , H , and H or L , L , and L

Case	Outcome of the Weighing	Information	How Can One Use It?
2-4-1	They balance	The five suspect coins on the scales of the balance are all good, and the last suspect ones are L , L , and L	One can separate L , L , and L
2-4-2	They do not balance, and the scale with H , H , H , and L goes down	The three suspect coins are H , H , and H	One can separate H , H , and H
2-4-3	They do not balance, and the scale with H , H , H , and L goes up	The two suspect coins are L and H	One can separate L and H

Case	Outcome of the Weighing	Information, Result
A3-1-1	They do not balance, and the scale with S moves up	The last suspect coin S on the scale is lighter
A3-1-2	They do not balance, and the scale with S moves down	The last suspect coin S on the scale is heavier

Case	Outcome of the Weighing	Information, Result
B3-1-1	They do balance	The suspect coin L is lighter
B3-1-2	They do not balance; the scale with L moves up, and L moves down	The suspect coin L is lighter
B3-1-3	They do not balance; the scale with L moves down, and L moves up	The suspect coin L is lighter

Case	Outcome of the Weighing	Information, Result
C3-1-1	They do balance	The suspect coin H is heavier
C3-1-2	They do not balance; the scale with H moves down, and H moves up	The suspect coin H is heavier
C3-1-3	They do not balance; the scale with H moves up, and H moves down	The suspect coin H is heavier

Case	Outcome of the Weighing	Information, Result
D3-1-1	They do balance	The suspect coin H is heavier
D3-1-2	They do not balance, and the scale with L moves up	The suspect coin L is lighter

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Share and Cite

Szabo, Z.K.; Körtesi, P.; Guncaga, J.; Szabo, D.; Neag, R. Examples of Problem-Solving Strategies in Mathematics Education Supporting the Sustainability of 21st-Century Skills. Sustainability 2020 , 12 , 10113. https://doi.org/10.3390/su122310113

Szabo ZK, Körtesi P, Guncaga J, Szabo D, Neag R. Examples of Problem-Solving Strategies in Mathematics Education Supporting the Sustainability of 21st-Century Skills. Sustainability . 2020; 12(23):10113. https://doi.org/10.3390/su122310113

Szabo, Zsuzsanna Katalin, Péter Körtesi, Jan Guncaga, Dalma Szabo, and Ramona Neag. 2020. "Examples of Problem-Solving Strategies in Mathematics Education Supporting the Sustainability of 21st-Century Skills" Sustainability 12, no. 23: 10113. https://doi.org/10.3390/su122310113

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Check Your Understanding

Answer: d = 1720 m

Answer: a = 8.10 m/s/s

Answers: d = 33.1 m and v f = 25.5 m/s

Answers: a = 11.2 m/s/s and d = 79.8 m

Answer: t = 1.29 s

Answers: a = 243 m/s/s

Answer: a = 0.712 m/s/s

Answer: d = 704 m

Answer: d = 28.6 m

Answer: v i = 7.17 m/s

Answer: v i = 5.03 m/s and hang time = 1.03 s (except for in sports commericals)

Answer: a = 1.62*10 5 m/s/s

Answer: d = 48.0 m

Answer: t = 8.69 s

Answer: a = -1.08*10^6 m/s/s

Answer: d = -57.0 m (57.0 meters deep) 

Answer: v i = 47.6 m/s

Answer: a = 2.86 m/s/s and t = 30. 8 s

Answer: a = 15.8 m/s/s

Answer: v i = 94.4 mi/hr

Solutions to Above Problems

t = 32.8 s v = 0 m/s d = (0 m/s)*(32.8 s)+ 0.5*(3.20 m/s 2 )*(32.8 s) 2 Return to Problem 1 t = 5.21 s v = 0 m/s 110 m = (0 m/s)*(5.21 s)+ 0.5*(a)*(5.21 s) 2 110 m = (13.57 s 2 )*a a = (110 m)/(13.57 s 2 ) a = 8.10 m/ s 2 Return to Problem 2 t = 2.6 s v = 0 m/s d = (0 m/s)*(2.60 s)+ 0.5*(-9.8 m/s 2 )*(2.60 s) 2 d = -33.1 m (- indicates direction) v f = v i + a*t v f = 0 + (-9.8 m/s 2 )*(2.60 s) v f = -25.5 m/s (- indicates direction) Return to Problem 3 v = 18.5 m/s v = 46.1 m/s t = 2.47 s a = (46.1 m/s - 18.5 m/s)/(2.47 s) a = 11.2 m/s 2 d = v i *t + 0.5*a*t 2 d = (18.5 m/s)*(2.47 s)+ 0.5*(11.2 m/s 2 )*(2.47 s) 2 d = 45.7 m + 34.1 m (Note: the d can also be calculated using the equation v f 2 = v i 2 + 2*a*d) Return to Problem 4 v = 0 m/s d = -1.40 m -1.40 m = (0 m/s)*(t)+ 0.5*(-1.67 m/s 2 )*(t) 2 -1.40 m = 0+ (-0.835 m/s 2 )*(t) 2 (-1.40 m)/(-0.835 m/s 2 ) = t 2 1.68 s 2 = t 2 Return to Problem 5 v = 0 m/s v = 444 m/s a = (444 m/s - 0 m/s)/(1.83 s) a = 243 m/s 2 d = (0 m/s)*(1.83 s)+ 0.5*(243 m/s 2 )*(1.83 s) 2 d = 0 m + 406 m Return to Problem 6 v = 0 m/s v = 7.10 m/s (7.10 m/s) 2 = (0 m/s) 2 + 2*(a)*(35.4 m) 50.4 m 2 /s 2 = (0 m/s) 2 + (70.8 m)*a (50.4 m 2 /s 2 )/(70.8 m) = a a = 0.712 m/s 2 Return to Problem 7 v = 0 m/s v = 65 m/s (65 m/s) 2 = (0 m/s) 2 + 2*(3 m/s 2 )*d 4225 m 2 /s 2 = (0 m/s) 2 + (6 m/s 2 )*d (4225 m 2 /s 2 )/(6 m/s 2 ) = d Return to Problem 8 v = 22.4 m/s v = 0 m/s d = (22.4 m/s + 0 m/s)/2 *2.55 s d = (11.2 m/s)*2.55 s Return to Problem 9 a = -9.8 m/s v = 0 m/s (0 m/s) 2 = v i 2 + 2*(-9.8 m/s 2 )*(2.62 m) 0 m 2 /s 2 = v i 2 - 51.35 m 2 /s 2 51.35 m 2 /s 2 = v i 2 v i = 7.17 m/s Return to Problem 10 (0 m/s) 2 = v i 2 + 2*(-9.8 m/s 2 )*(1.29 m) 0 m 2 /s 2 = v i 2 - 25.28 m 2 /s 2 25.28 m 2 /s 2 = v i 2 v i = 5.03 m/s To find hang time, find the time to the peak and then double it. 0 m/s = 5.03 m/s + (-9.8 m/s 2 )*t up -5.03 m/s = (-9.8 m/s 2 )*t up (-5.03 m/s)/(-9.8 m/s 2 ) = t up t up = 0.513 s hang time = 1.03 s Return to Problem 11 v = 0 m/s v = 521 m/s (521 m/s) 2 = (0 m/s) 2 + 2*(a)*(0.840 m) 271441 m 2 /s 2 = (0 m/s) 2 + (1.68 m)*a (271441 m 2 /s 2 )/(1.68 m) = a a = 1.62*10 5 m /s 2 Return to Problem 12 (NOTE: the time required to move to the peak of the trajectory is one-half the total hang time - 3.125 s.) First use:  v f  = v i  + a*t 0 m/s = v i  + (-9.8  m/s 2 )*(3.13 s) 0 m/s = v i  - 30.7 m/s v i  = 30.7 m/s  (30.674 m/s) Now use:  v f 2  = v i 2  + 2*a*d (0 m/s) 2  = (30.7 m/s) 2  + 2*(-9.8  m/s 2 )*(d) 0 m 2 /s 2  = (940 m 2 /s 2 ) + (-19.6  m/s 2 )*d -940  m 2 /s 2  = (-19.6  m/s 2 )*d (-940  m 2 /s 2 )/(-19.6  m/s 2 ) = d Return to Problem 13 v = 0 m/s d = -370 m -370 m = (0 m/s)*(t)+ 0.5*(-9.8 m/s 2 )*(t) 2 -370 m = 0+ (-4.9 m/s 2 )*(t) 2 (-370 m)/(-4.9 m/s 2 ) = t 2 75.5 s 2 = t 2 Return to Problem 14 v = 367 m/s v = 0 m/s (0 m/s) 2 = (367 m/s) 2 + 2*(a)*(0.0621 m) 0 m 2 /s 2 = (134689 m 2 /s 2 ) + (0.1242 m)*a -134689 m 2 /s 2 = (0.1242 m)*a (-134689 m 2 /s 2 )/(0.1242 m) = a a = -1.08*10 6 m /s 2 (The - sign indicates that the bullet slowed down.) Return to Problem 15 t = 3.41 s v = 0 m/s d = (0 m/s)*(3.41 s)+ 0.5*(-9.8 m/s 2 )*(3.41 s) 2 d = 0 m+ 0.5*(-9.8 m/s 2 )*(11.63 s 2 ) d = -57.0 m (NOTE: the - sign indicates direction) Return to Problem 16 a = -3.90 m/s v = 0 m/s (0 m/s) 2 = v i 2 + 2*(- 3.90 m/s 2 )*(290 m) 0 m 2 /s 2 = v i 2 - 2262 m 2 /s 2 2262 m 2 /s 2 = v i 2 v i = 47.6 m /s Return to Problem 17 v = 0 m/s v = 88.3 m/s ( 88.3 m/s) 2 = (0 m/s) 2 + 2*(a)*(1365 m) 7797 m 2 /s 2 = (0 m 2 /s 2 ) + (2730 m)*a 7797 m 2 /s 2 = (2730 m)*a (7797 m 2 /s 2 )/(2730 m) = a a = 2.86 m/s 2 88.3 m/s = 0 m/s + (2.86 m/s 2 )*t (88.3 m/s)/(2.86 m/s 2 ) = t t = 30. 8 s Return to Problem 18 v = 0 m/s v = m/s ( 112 m/s) 2 = (0 m/s) 2 + 2*(a)*(398 m) 12544 m 2 /s 2 = 0 m 2 /s 2 + (796 m)*a 12544 m 2 /s 2 = (796 m)*a (12544 m 2 /s 2 )/(796 m) = a a = 15.8 m/s 2 Return to Problem 19 v f 2 = v i 2 + 2*a*d (0 m/s) 2 = v i 2 + 2*(-9.8 m/s 2 )*(91.5 m) 0 m 2 /s 2 = v i 2 - 1793 m 2 /s 2 1793 m 2 /s 2 = v i 2 v i = 42.3 m/s Now convert from m/s to mi/hr: v i = 42.3 m/s * (2.23 mi/hr)/(1 m/s) v i = 94.4 mi/hr Return to Problem 20 share this! August 30, 2024 This article has been reviewed according to Science X's editorial process and policies . Editors have highlighted the following attributes while ensuring the content's credibility: fact-checked trusted source Different mathematical solving methods can affect how information is memorized by University of Geneva The way we memorize information—a mathematical problem statement, for example—reveals the way we process it. A team from the University of Geneva (UNIGE), in collaboration with CY Cergy Paris University (CYU) and Bourgogne University (uB), has shown how different solving methods can alter the way information is memorized and even create false memories. By identifying learners' unconscious deductions, this study opens up new perspectives for mathematics teaching. These results are published in the Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition . Remembering information goes through several stages: perception, encoding—the way it is processed to become an easily accessible memory trace—and retrieval (or reactivation). At each stage, errors can occur, sometimes leading to the formation of false memories . Scientists from the UNIGE, CYU and Bourgogne University set out to determine whether solving arithmetic problems could generate such memories and whether they could be influenced by the nature of the problems. Unconscious deductions create false memories When solving a mathematical problem , it is possible to call upon either the ordinal property of numbers, i.e., the fact that they are ordered, or their cardinal property, i.e., the fact that they designate specific quantities. This can lead to different solving strategies and, when memorized, to different encoding. In concrete terms, the representation of a problem involving the calculation of durations or differences in heights (ordinal problem) can sometimes allow unconscious deductions to be made, leading to a more direct solution. This is in contrast to the representation of a problem involving the calculation of weights or prices (cardinal problem), which can lead to additional steps in the reasoning, such as the intermediate calculation of subsets. The scientists therefore hypothesized that, as a result of spontaneous deductions, participants would unconsciously modify their memories of ordinal problem statements, but not those of cardinal problems. To test this, a total of 67 adults were asked to solve arithmetic problems of both types, and then to recall the wording in order to test their memories. The scientists found that in the majority of cases (83%), the statements were correctly recalled for cardinal problems. In contrast, the results were different when the participants had to remember the wording of ordinal problems, such as: "Sophie's journey takes 8 hours. Her journey takes place during the day. When she arrives, the clock reads 11. Fred leaves at the same time as Sophie. Fred's journey is 2 hours shorter than Sophie's. What time does the clock show when Fred arrives?" In more than half the cases, information deduced by the participants when solving these problems was added unintentionally to the statement. In the case of the problem mentioned above, for example, they could be convinced—wrongly—that they had read: "Fred arrived 2 hours before Sophie" (an inference made because Fred and Sophie left at the same time, but Fred's journey took 2 hours less, which is factually true but constitutes an alteration to what the statement indicated). "We have shown that when solving specific problems, participants have the illusion of having read sentences that were never actually presented in the statements, but were linked to unconscious deductions made when reading the statements. They become confused in their minds with the sentences they actually read," explains Hippolyte Gros, former post-doctoral fellow at UNIGE's Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences, lecturer at CYU, and first author of the study. Invoking memories to understand reasoning In addition, the experiments showed that the participants with the false memories were only those who had discovered the shortest strategy, thus revealing their unconscious reasoning that had enabled them to find this resolution shortcut. On the other hand, the others, who had operated in more stages, were unable to "enrich" their memory because they had not carried out the corresponding reasoning. "This work can have applications for learning mathematics. By asking students to recall statements, we can identify their mental representations and therefore the reasoning they used when solving the problem, based on the presence or absence of false memories in their restitution," explains Emmanuel Sander, full professor at the UNIGE's Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences, who directed this research. It is difficult to access mental constructs directly. Doing so indirectly, by analyzing memorization processes, could lead to a better understanding of the difficulties encountered by students in solving problems, and provide avenues for intervention in the classroom. Provided by University of Geneva Explore further Feedback to editors Data from space probes show that Alfvén waves drive the acceleration and heating of the solar wind Aug 31, 2024 Saturday Citations: Corn sweat! Nanoplastics! 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Aug 27, 2024 How to use the Newton-Raphson method while keeping the sum constant? Difficult to understand the solution provided in the video (travelling salesman problem). Aug 26, 2024 More from General Math Related Stories Drawings of mathematical problems predict their resolution Mar 7, 2024 Have a vexing problem? Sleep on it. Oct 17, 2019 Expert mathematicians stumped by simple subtractions Jul 10, 2019 Study: Cognitive flexibility enhances mathematical reasoning Nov 29, 2022 Research reveals cuttlefish can form false memories, too Jul 17, 2024 A new method for boosting the learning of mathematics Dec 23, 2019 Recommended for you Mathematicians debunk GPS assumptions to offer improvements Aug 28, 2024 Framework for solving parabolic partial differential equations could guide computer graphics and geometry processing AI tools like ChatGPT popular among students who struggle with concentration and attention Researchers find academic equivalent of a Great Gatsby Curve in science mentorships Cold math, hot topic: Applied theory offers new insights into sea ice thermal conductivity Mathematicians unlock the secrets of ouzo's cloudy transformation Aug 22, 2024 Let us know if there is a problem with our content Use this form if you have come across a typo, inaccuracy or would like to send an edit request for the content on this page. 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Consider supporting Science X's mission by getting a premium account. E-mail newsletter Similar Problems from Web Search 373 IMAGES Math Problem Solving Examples With Solutions For Grade 4 What IS Problem-Solving? Math Problem Solving 101 What IS Problem-Solving? Problem Solving Strategies for Math Poster by TeachPlanLove Math Problem Solving Posters [Video] VIDEO Problem solving Mathematics the modern world Problem Solving: Estimate Math Olympiad problem Very easy.... Algebra Problem 🫣🫣 Math's Beauty 😍 || Brilliant Geometry tricks #maths #mathsbeauty #circle #ytshorts Maths olympiad question 🔥🔥 #maths #mathstricks #olympiad #mathematics #viral COMMENTS Module 1: Problem Solving Strategies Step 1: Understanding the problem. We are given in the problem that there are 25 chickens and cows. All together there are 76 feet. Chickens have 2 feet and cows have 4 feet. We are trying to determine how many cows and how many chickens Mr. Jones has on his farm. Step 2: Devise a plan. 20 Effective Math Strategies For Problem Solving Here are five strategies to help students check their solutions. 1. Use the Inverse Operation. For simpler problems, a quick and easy problem solving strategy is to use the inverse operation. For example, if the operation to solve a word problem is 56 ÷ 8 = 7 students can check the answer is correct by multiplying 8 × 7. 1.3: Problem Solving Strategies Problem Solving Strategy 3 (Draw a Picture). Some problems are obviously about a geometric situation, and it is clear you want to draw a picture and mark down all of the given information before you try to solve it. But even for a problem that is not geometric, like this one, thinking visually can help! Math Problem Solving Strategies (video lessons, examples and solutions) The following video shows more examples of using problem solving strategies and models. Question 2: The table shows the number of seats in each of the first four rows in an auditorium. 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Geometry Math Problems (solutions, examples, videos, examples) Solution: Step 1: Assign variables: Let x = length of the equal sides. Sketch the figure. Step 2: Write out the formula for perimeter of triangle. P = sum of the three sides. Step 3: Plug in the values from the question and from the sketch. 50 = x + x + x+ 5. Combine like terms. Examples of Problem-Solving Strategies in Mathematics Education ... Teaching mathematical problem-solving is an efficient way to develop 21st-century skills and to give cross-curricular experiences with real-world meaning to learners. Concrete examples were presented to prove that Pólya's heuristic could be used in a broader context to help learners acquire the modern skills needed to succeed in their ... Khan Academy Khanmigo is now free for all US educators! Plan lessons, develop exit tickets, and so much more with our AI teaching assistant. 3.1: Use a Problem-Solving Strategy Step 3. Name what we are looking for. Choose a variable to represent that quantity. We can use any letter for the variable, but choose one that makes it easy to remember what it represents. Step 4. Translate into an equation. It may be helpful to restate the problem in one sentence with all the important information. 29 Math Problem Solving IEP Goals (Including Math Reasoning) The goals of problem solving in mathematics for elementary students are to develop critical thinking skills, promote logical reasoning, and enhance problem-solving abilities. ... An example of a problem solving IEP goal for math is for a student to solve real-world problems using appropriate mathematical strategies. This may include setting ... Kinematic Equations: Sample Problems and Solutions A useful problem-solving strategy was presented for use with these equations and two examples were given that illustrated the use of the strategy. Then, the application of the kinematic equations and the problem-solving strategy to free-fall motion was discussed and illustrated. In this part of Lesson 6, several sample problems will be presented. Different mathematical solving methods can affect how information is When solving a mathematical problem, it is possible to appeal to the ordinal property of numbers, i.e. the fact that they are ordered, or to their cardinal property, i.e. the fact that they ... Solve 50x20 Solve your math problems using our free math solver with step-by-step solutions. Our math solver supports basic math, pre-algebra, algebra, trigonometry, calculus and more. ... Which problem can be solved using the equation shown? 2.50x-2.00=10.50 \nA)Will bought several books that cost 2.50 each and received a 2.00 discount on his total bill ... 6.1: Introduction on Mathematical Reasoning Problem-solving: Engage students in solving a variety of math problems that require reasoning and critical thinking. Encourage them to explain their thought process and justify their solutions. Real-world applications: Use real-world examples to illustrate mathematical concepts and their relevance. This helps students see the practical ... 4.7: Optimization Problems Problem-Solving Strategy: Solving Optimization Problems. Introduce all variables. If applicable, draw a figure and label all variables. Determine which quantity is to be maximized or minimized, and for what range of values of the other variables (if this can be determined at this time). assignment essay homework phd report resume review speech thesis