Lower Elementary:

Question: Elizabeth makes 20 cupcakes. What are 3 different ways she can group the cup­cakes evenly? You can use counters or draw a picture to solve this problem.

Upper Elementary:

Question: Double–chocolate brownies cost $2.25 and strawberry tarts cost $4.85. Find the cost of 6 double–chocolate brownies and 6 strawberry tarts.

Middle School:

Question: If you bake 2 layers of cake in circular cake tins that are 10 inches across and 2 inches deep, what volume of cake will you have?

(Hint: the volume of a cylinder is π × r² × h; r is the radius and h is the height.)

Algebra and Up:

Question: A smoothie with 1 scoop of power boost powder costs $4.85. A smoothie with 3 scoops of power boost powder costs $5.55. Write an equation to find y, the cost of a smoothie, in terms of x, the number of scoops of power boost powder.

WARNING:  ANSWERS BELOW!!

Lower Elementary:

Question: Elizabeth makes 20 cupcakes. What are 3 different ways she can group the cup­cakes evenly? You can use counters or draw a picture to solve this problem.

Answer:  Answers vary and may include 1 group of 20, 2 groups of 10, 4 groups of 5, 5 groups of 4, 10 groups of 2, and 20 groups of 1.

Upper Elementary:

Question: Double–chocolate brownies cost $2.25 and strawberry tarts cost $4.85. Find the cost of 6 double–chocolate brownies and 6 strawberry tarts.

Answer:  $42.60

Solution:   Six double–chocolate brownies cost $2.25, six times. That’s $2.25 × 6 = $13.50.

Six strawberry tarts cost $4.85, six times. That’s $4.85 × 6 = $29.10.

If we add the cost of the desserts together, we get $13.50 + $29.10 = $42.60

Middle School:

Question: If you bake 2 layers of cake in circular cake tins that are 10 inches across and 2 inches deep, what volume of cake will you have?

(Hint: the volume of a cylinder is π × r² × h; r is the radius and h is the height.)

Answer:  100π inches³

Solution:  If the tin is 10 inches across, then the radius of the cake is 5 inches. If the cake has 2 layers that are each 2 inches high, then the height of the cake is 4 inches.

π × 52 × 4 = π × 25 × 4 = 100π

So, the volume is 100π inches cubed.

Algebra and Up:

Question: A smoothie with 1 scoop of power boost powder costs $4.85. A smoothie with 3 scoops of power boost powder costs $5.55. Write an equation to find y, the cost of a smoothie, in terms of x, the number of scoops of power boost powder.

Answer:   y = $0.35x + $4.50

Solution:  The difference in cost between the two smoothies above is $5.55 – $4.85 = $0.70. The difference between the two smooth­ies is 2 scoops of power boost powder, so each scoop must cost $0.35. If we sub­tract 1 scoop of power boost powder from the $4.85 smoothie, we find that a plain smoothie costs $4.50. So, the cost of a smoothie y is equal to $4.50 plus $0.35 for each power boost scoop x:

y = $4.50 + $0.35 x

or

y = $0.35 x + $4.50