Lower Elementary:
Question: Jillian has 2 quarters and 1 nickel. If she needs 87¢ to buy an ice cream cone, what is the smallest amount of coins she will need? Which coins are they?
Answer: 4 coins: 1 Quarter, 1 Nickel, and 2 Pennies
Solution: To find out which coins she needs to have 87¢, we first need to find the value of the coins Jillian already has. 2 quarters and 1 nickel together equal 55¢ (25 + 25 + 5). Next, we need to find how far it is from 87¢. We do this by subtracting the part (55¢) from the whole (87¢).
87¢ – 55¢ = 32¢
Now we need to make 32¢ with the least amount of coins. We do this by using the largest value coins possible without going over. This would be 1 quarter, 1 nickel, and 2 pennies (25 + 5 + 1 + 1 = 32).
Upper Elementary:
Question: Jean decided to ride her bike to her school that is 9 miles away. If she is a quarter of the way there, how many more miles does she have ride?
Answer: 6¾ miles
Solution: Because a quarter is equal to half of a half, we can take half of a half of 9 to get 2 ¼. Because one part is equal to a whole minus the other part, we can subtract 2 ¼ from 9 give us the answer 6¾.
9 – 2 = 7 and 7 – ¼ = 6¾
Middle School:
Question: In order for a space shuttle to remain in Earth’s orbit it has to travel 17,500 miles per hour. If the shuttle is 4,200 miles away from earth’s core, how many times does this shuttle circle the earth in a day? Round your answer to the nearest whole number.
Answer: About 16 times
Solution: We start by finding the circumference of the path the shuttle orbits around the earth. In the problem it is stated that the shuttle’s orbit has a radius of 4200 miles starting from the center of the earth. Using the circumference formula, we can find how many miles the shuttle has to fly in order to circle the earth once.
C = 2πr ≈ 2(3.14)(4,200 miles) ≈ 26,376 miles
Dividing the circumference by the speed of the shuttle will give us how long it will take for the space shuttle to circle the earth once.
26,376 miles ÷ 17,500 miles/hours ≈ 1.5 hours
Finally, since it takes the space shuttle roughly 1.5 hours to circle the earth, we divide this number into the number of hours in a day, 24.
24 ÷ 1.5 ≈ 16 times
Algebra and Up:
Question: With an average annual rainfall of 11,872 millimeters, Mawsynram, India is known as the wettest place on Earth. Mobile, Alabama is the wettest city in the continental United States with an average annual rainfall of 67 inches. In 5 years, how many more feet of rain have fallen in Mawsynram than Mobile? Round answer to the nearest hundredth of a foot. (Hint: There are 25.4 millimeters in an inch.)
Answer: 166.83 feet
Solution: Start by converting 11,872 millimeters to inches.
11,872 ÷ 25.4 ≈ 467.40 inches
In 5 years, it will have rained about 2337 inches (467.4 × 5) in Mawsynram and 335 inches (67 × 5) in Mobile. The difference in rainfall between the two cities is 2002 inches which is about 166.83 feet (2002 ÷ 12).
(925) 292-8854
