Monday, December 12, 2016

How to understand word problems

To understand word problems is very easy, as soon as you decode or translate the words into an equation, it becomes very easy


Terms used in word problems 

1. Sum: it means the result gotten from addition of numbers 
2. Difference : it means the result gotten from subtraction of numbers. 
3. Product : it means the result gotten from multiplication of numbers 
4. Quotient : it means the result gotten from division of numbers 
5. Consecutive number : it means the numbers are in accordance, lets say we pick 5,the next consecutive number will be 6 and the next will be 7.So in word problems we use letter to represent the number, lets say the number is n, so the next consecutive number will be n+1,the next will be n+2 and so on. 

In word problems involving age, when you see in 6 years time, you add 6,if you see 6 years ago you subtract 6.

If you see something like twice it means multiply by 2,or you see four times as means multiply by 4.

Examples 

1. Find the sum of 8 and the difference of 7 and 5.
   Solution
Difference means subtraction, so we subtract 5 from 7 and add the result with 8.
8+(7-5) = 8+2 =10.

2. The sum of four consecutive numbers is 58,find the numbers.
  Solution
Let the number be x
So the four consecutive numbers will be:
x, x+1, x+2, x+3.
So lets add them because we want to equate them to their sum (58)
x+x+1+x+2+x+3 =58
collect like terms
x+x+x+x+1+2+3 = 58
4x+6=58, when +6 crosses to the other side it becomes -6
4x=58-6=52
4x=52,divide both sides by 4
4x/4 =52/4
x= 13.
x+1 = 13+1 =14
x+2=13+2=15
x+3=13+3=16
So the consecutive numbers are 13,14,15 and 16.


3. A man is three times as old as his son, if the sum of their age is 40,find the son's age.
  Solution
Let the son's age be x
So the father's age = 3x
the sum of their age therefore will be:
3x+x=40
4x=40,divide by 4
4x/4 =40/4
x=10.
Therefore the son's age is 10.

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