Lower Elementary:
Question: Cranberries come in bags of 500. How many cranberries are in 12 bags?
Answer: 6,000 cranberries
Solution: We can think of 500 as 5 hundreds. Five hundreds, 12 times is 60 hundreds, and 60 hundreds is 6,000. So, there are 6,000 cranberries in 12 bags.
Upper Elementary:
Question: There are 16 ounces to a pound. If one turkey weighs 14 pounds and 15 ounces and another turkey weighs 15 pounds and 2 ounces, what is the difference in their weights?
Answer: 3 ounces
Solution: Fourteen pounds and 15 ounces is one ounce less than 15 pounds. Fifteen pounds and 2 ounces is 2 ounces more than 15 pounds. So, the difference is 1 + 2 = 3 ounces.
Middle School:
Question: Below is a shopping list of the ingredients for green bean casserole and their prices. Mrs. Brown goes to the grocery store and buys everything on the list with a 5% discount coupon. How much does she spend on the ingredients?
Green Beans – $3.11
Cream of Mushroom Soup – $1.66
Milk – $2.45
Onions – $1.34
Cheddar Cheese – $4.25
Corn Flakes – $3.79
Answer: $15.77
Solution: The sum of the prices of the items on the list is $16.60. Since Mrs. Brown gets a 5% discount, she only pays 95% of $16.60, which is $16.60 × 0.95 = $15.77.
Algebra and Up:
Question: Amelia can eat a whole pecan pie in 20 minutes. Benjamin can eat a whole pecan pie in 15 minutes. How long will it take them to finish a whole pecan pie together?
Answer: 84/7 minutes
Solution: Amelia’s pie eating rate is 1 pie per 20 minutes, and Benjamin’s rate is 1 pie per 15 minutes, so their combined rate is 7 pies per 60 minutes. If they can eat 7 pies in 60 minutes, then they can eat 1 pie in 60 ÷ 7 = 84/7 minutes.
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