How to Use PRB &

Translation in
Solving Math Word
Problems
Kristine Tan
for Pinoy Math Forum

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Dear Reader,
This presentation aims to show you
how to use two techniques, Percentage
Rate Base and Translation, in
solving math word problems.

I will give you some sample exercises,

and we will solve each one step by
step.

 Percentage (portion, part, or
P share), alwayswithouta percent
sign
Rate or percent, usuallywitha
R percent sign, it is the Percentage
IN RELATION to the Base
Base, the original amount,
B
usually the whole

Review of PRB
Percentage-Rate-Base

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Identify the P, R, and B in the

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sentence below:
1
20 is of 100.
5
All the 3 quantities Percentage, Rate, and
Base, are GIVEN already. You are just
being asked to IDENTIFY which is which.
Answers:
Percentage: 20 20 20 20 20 20
Rate: 1/5 The sentence means that if
you cut 100 into 5 equal
Base:
100 parts, then each of the 5
parts, or 1/5, is equal to 20.
 P R B
1
20 is of 100.
5
As seen from the previous slide,

1
shows how 20 is RELATED TO to 100.
5
We can say that,
The rate R shows the relationship,
either in fraction form or %form,

of the percentage P to the base B.

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Lets use P-R-B in everyday math.

In the following situations,

identify the P, R, and the B.
Identify the Percentage, Rate,
and the Base.
1. Jessy ate 4 out of the 5 parts of her chocolate bar.
This means she ate 80% of the chocolate bar.

ANSWER
Percenta Rate Base
ge
4 80% 5
2. The interest rate for savings in a bank is 1% per
year. When Anton deposited P1,000 in the bank, his
money earned an interest of P10 in one year.
ANSWER
Percenta Rate Base
ge
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In the previous slide, all 3 quantities
were given.
A typical PRB word problem is different. It
will provide you with any 2 of the 3
quantities, and you will need to solve for the
3rd quantity.
Given in the You need to find
problem
Percentage & Rate Base
Percentage & Base Rate
Rate & Base Percentage

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Typical P-R-B Word Problem:
What part of 30 is 6?
Identify which 2 of the 3 quantities are
given.

Base Percentage

What is missing? The

The trick is to use the PRB Rate.
triangle.
Since the rate R is
missing, we cover R.
We see that P is over B.

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 P
Rate P "over" B
B
6

30
1

5

Answer :
1
6 is of 30.
5
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PRB Application: Discount
A PRB Application: Discount
During a sale with all items marked
20% off, Manuel bought a t-shirt at
Php 200.00. What was the original
price of the t-shirt?
What are given in the What do we need to find?
problem?
What does Php 200.00 represent? Percentage. (Or part
of the original price)
What does 20% represent? The common misconception is that the
given % quantity in the problem is the
rate, but this is not always the case.
The correct rate is (100% -20%) =
80%.the given are:
Therefore,
Percentage Php 200.00 Which means we have
Rate =80% to FIND the Base.

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 Percentage Php 200.00
0.80 200.00
Rate =80%

P
Base P "over" R
R 250
200.00 80 20000

80% 160
200.00 400

0.80 400
Answer: 0
The original price is
Php 250.00.
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Now, lets try answering some
PRB problems using Translation.
Translation of the English Sentence
into a Mathematical Equation
Using the same word problem:
What part of 30 is 6?
We will translate the sentence into a mathematical
equation.

N 30 6
As you can see, in translating
sentences to math equations,
of becomes multiplication
is becomes the equal sign

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 N 30 6
To answer N:
What should N be, so that if you multiply it to 30, you get 6?

Answer :
1
N must be .
5

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 Lets try another problem.
20% of 25 is what part of 160?

Step 1: Find 20% of 25.

20% of 25 = 0.20 x 25 = 5
Step 2: Find the answer to 5 is what part of 160?.

Base B
Percentage P
In Step 2 now,
we are looking P 5 1
for the rate R. R
B 160 32
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 Your turn:

Forty is 0.25% of what number?

Identify: what do 40 and 0.25% represent?
Answer: 40 represents the Percentage P.
0.25% is the Rate R, where, in this problem,
the number 40 is worth 0.25% of some
number.
The number we are looking for is the Base B.
P 40 40
B
R 0.25% 0.0025
Warning: 0.25% is NOT the same as 0.25.
Take note of the % symbol!

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 40 is the same as: 0.0025 40
0.0025
Move the decimal point 4 places to the right, in
both divisor and dividend. (Because we need
to make the divisor 0.0025 a whole
number).
16000
Answer: 25 400000.
40 is 0.25%
of 16000. -25
150
-150
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