Word Problem Wednesday: Dolphins, Whales and Math — Oh My!

We have a whale of a math help for kids word problem this week! Be ready for a challenge, but don’t be scared, you don’t have to be a brain sturgeon to figure this out. Practice elementary school math skills such as multiplication, division, and weight conversion with this week’s fun word problem challenge. Practicing math everyday is dolphinitely one of the best ways to improve math grades.

We know you can do it! Don’t trout yourself, any fin is possible! Give the problem below a try, and be sure to check back tomorrow for the solution.

Question: An adult blue whale weighs 200 tons. An adult Hector’s dolphin weighs 125 pounds. How many times the weight of the Hector’s dolphin is the blue whale? (Hint: One ton is 2,000 pounds.)

Solution: A ton is 2,000 pounds, so 200 tons is 200 × 2,000 = 400,000 pounds. If we divide 400,000 by 125, we get 3,200. So, the blue whale is 3,200 times the weight of the Hector’s dolphin.

 (Dolphin image above by John on Flickr.)