Solving word problems
A word problem tells a small story with numbers. Read it slowly and find the numbers, then decide what to do.
Key idea
Use 4 steps: Understand the story, Plan what to do (add, subtract, compare or round), Solve it, then Check your answer makes sense.
Worked example
Worked example
A shop has 3 450 red pens and 2 300 blue pens. How many pens in all?
Understand: we have two groups of pens.
Plan: "in all" means add.
Solve: 3 450 + 2 300 = 5 750.
Check: 5 750 − 2 300 = 3 450. Correct!
So the shop has 5 750 pens.
Words that give clues
Remember
- "in all", "total", "altogether" → add (+)
- "left", "how many more", "spent" → subtract (−)
- "about", "roughly" → round the number first