Budgeting money and cash flow is one of the most important math skills to practice on a regular basis, even for elementary school age students. Luckily, there are numerous daily opportunities to practice money math! This week’s word problem challenge requires use of all the foundational math skills: addition and subtraction, multiplication, division, and even fractions...all rolled into one fun challenge!
Go ahead and dive in to this week’s word problem.
Question: Siri spent a quarter of her babysitting money on a new pair of sunglasses. If she makes $9.50 per hour and babysat for 8 hours, how much money did she have left after buying the sunglasses?
Solution: Siri worked for 8 hours earning $9.50/hour for a total of 8 × $9.50 = $76.00. She spent a quarter of that money, which is half of half of 76 = half of 38 = $19.00 on sunglasses. Siri was left with $76.00 − $19.00 = $57.00 after buying sunglasses.
