Photo: Lynne Harty

You don’t have to understand math in order to make great music, but it helps. Music is intrinsically mathematical, and the two disciplines have a symbiotic relationship.

We use social media for so many things: Staying connected with family and friends, sharing what’s going on in our lives, following companies and celebrities, and… practicing math skills! This week’s word problem challenge uses the ubiquitous social media to practice elementary and middle school math skills such as averages and multiplication. Help Eddie figure out how many times to post to social media per day in order to achieve his desired average.  

Question: For the first 5 days of the week, Eddie put 3 photos on social media per day. How many does he need to post on the weekend to have an average of 5 photos posted per day for the whole week?

Take your time, and when you're ready look below for the solution.

Solution: If Eddie posts 3 photos per day for 5 days, then he posts 3 × 5 = 15 photos. In order for Eddie’s average to be 5 photos per day for a week, he’ll need to post a total of 5 × 7 = 35 photos. So, he needs to post 35 – 15 = 20 more photos over the weekend to bring his average to 5 photos per day.

Does your child need a calculator for school this year? If so, what kind?  Some of our recommendations may surprise you.