Lower Elementary:
Question: Dave wants to buy chocolates to give to his mom. He buys 27 pieces of milk chocolate, 15 pieces of dark chocolate, and 23 pieces of white chocolate. How many total pieces of chocolate does Dave buy?
Answer: 65 chocolates
Solution: Add the number of each pieces of chocolate that Dave bought to find the total number of chocolates purchased. 27 + 15 + 23. To make the addition easier, add 27 and 23 first because they add to a multiple of 10. 27 + 23 = 50. 50 + 15 = 65. Dave bought a total of 65 chocolates.
Upper Elementary:
Question: Halley is making a milkshake. The recipe requires 2 cups of vanilla ice cream, 1 ½ cups of milk, ¼ cup of chocolate syrup, and ¾ cups of ice. The milkshake will consist of how many total cups?
Answer: 4 ½ cups.
Solution: To find how many cups the milkshake will be, add the fractional parts of each ingredient. 2 + 1 ½ + ¼ + ¾. It will be easier to add the fractional part first, because ¼ + ¾ = 1.
2 + 1 ½ + 1
3 + 1 ½
4 ½
The milkshake will consist of 4 ½ cups.
Middle School:
Question: A custom shirt website gives a 10% discount of on any shirt orders of 50 or more. Each shirt normally costs $4 to make. What is the cost of buying 60 shirts?
Answer: $216
Solution: One way to solve this problem is to find the total cost of the 60 shirts and then apply the discount. 60 × 4 = 240. The shirts originally cost $240. One way to find 10% of a number is to move the decimal to the right one place value. 10% of 240 is 24. There is a $24 discount for this order. 240 – 24 = 216. Ordering 60 shirts will cost $216.
Algebra and Up:
Question: 2 roses and 3 sunflowers cost $32. 4 roses and 4 sunflowers cost $56. How much does one rose and one sunflower cost separately?
Answer: Roses are $10 and sunflowers are $4
Solution: One way to solve this problem is to use algebraic equations. Let r be the cost of a rose and let s be the cost of a sunflower. We have
2r + 3s = 32
4r + 4s = 56
We can solve this using elimination. Multiply the top equation by –2.
–4r – 6s = –64
4r + 4s = 56
Add the two equations together.
–2s = –8
Divide by –2.
s = 4
Substitute the value into either equation to solve for r.
2r + 3(4) = 32
2r + 12 = 32
Subtract 12 from both sides.
2r = 20
Divide both sides by 2.
r = 10.
One rose is $10 and one sunflower is $4.
(925) 292-8854
