Math/Word Problems

2010 abcteach.com

WORD PROBLEMS

Word problems help develop thinking skills in general and math skills in particular. Write an
equation with an answer, write the answer in the context of the question, and include a brief
explanation for each answer. Some questions can be answered with more than one equation;
some questions cannot be answered with an equation; some questions have more than one
acceptable answer.

Example: Christopher made three trips to the store and back. The store is two miles from his
house. How far did he walk?
3x2x2=12; Christopher walked 12 miles because each trip was two miles out and
two miles back, and he made three trips.

1. Robert went to the store with $10.00. He bought a notebook, three pencils and two
erasers. He came home with $2.89. How much money did he spend?



2. There are pictures of dogs in two overlapping circles. There are twenty dogs in
circle A, and nineteen dogs in circle B. Nine of the dogs are in both circles A and B.
How many dogs are in the circles altogether?



3. Victoria wants to get to school 20 minutes early. School starts at half-past eight.
She got there at a quarter after eight. Was she as early as she wanted to be?


4. Two boxers are in a boxing match (regular boxing, not kick boxing). The fight is
scheduled for 12 rounds but ends after 6 rounds, after one boxer knocks out the
other boxer. Yet no man threw a punch. How is this possible?



5. J onathan gets an allowance of $3.00 a week. His mother gave him a $.65 advance
on next weeks allowance. How much money will he get next week?



6. Alyssas bank has $2.55 in nickels and dimes. If the bank has twenty-one dimes,
how many nickels does it have?


- Set F -



Math/Word Problems

2010 abcteach.com


ANSWERS TO WORD PROBLEMS SET F.

There is often more than one way to solve a problem. Some of the questions,
shown in bold, are brain teasers and you may need to think in different ways
to solve them.

1. Robert went to the store with $10.00. He bought a notebook, three pencils
and two erasers. He came home with $2.89. How much money did he
spend?

$10.00 $2.89 = $7.11 spent.

2. There are pictures of dogs in two overlapping circles. There are twenty dogs
in circle A, and nineteen dogs in circle B. Nine of the dogs are in both circles
A and B. How many dogs are in the circles altogether?

(20 - 9) + (19 9) + 9 = 30 dogs altogether

3. Victoria wants to get to school 20 minutes early. School starts at half-past
eight. She got there at a quarter after eight. Was she as early as she wanted
to be?

8:30 AM :20 = 8:10; Victoria arrived at 8:15 so she was five minutes later than
she wanted to arrive.

4. Two boxers are in a boxing match (regular boxing, not kick boxing).
The fight is scheduled for 12 rounds but ends after 6 rounds, after one
boxer knocks out the other boxer. Yet no man threw a punch. How is
this possible?

The boxers were women.

5. J onathan gets an allowance of $3.00 a week. His mother gave him a $.65
advance on next weeks allowance. How much money will he get next week?

$3.00 - .65 = $2.35 will be next weeks allowance.

6. Alyssas bank has $2.55 in nickels and dimes. If the bank has twenty-one
dimes, how many nickels does it have?

21 x $.10 = $2.10 and $2.55 $2.10 = $.45 / $.05 = 9 nickels