Problem Solving Strategies: Story Problems

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Problem Solving Strategies Story Problems
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STEP ONE

• Read the story problem and identify the important
  information you will need to solve the problem.

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STEP TWO

• Identifying what type of arithmetic you will need
  to do
• Addition
• Subtraction
• Multiplication
• Division

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Addition

• Addition story problems often use words like
• Increased by
• More than
• Combined
• Together
• Total of
• Sum
• Added to

• EXAMPLE
• Jane has 10 Barbie's and for her birthday she
  gets 3 more. How many Barbies does Jane have
  now? (103?)

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Subtraction

• Subtraction story problems often use words like
• Decreased by
• Minus, less than
• Difference
• Less than
• Fewer than
• Away/loose

• EXAMPLE
• If there are 10 cars in one parking and 6 less
  cars in the second parking lot. How many more
  cars are there in the second parking lot?
  (10-6?)

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Multiplication

• Multiplication story problems often use words
  like
• Of
• Times
• Multiplied by
• Product of

• EXAMPLE
• If Mary has 3 pets and Annie has 2 times as many
  pets as Mary. How many pets does Annie have?
  (3x2?)

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Division

• Division word problems often use words like
• Per
• Out of
• Ratio of
• Quotient of
• a

• EXAMPLE
• If Bobbi had 15 cookies and ate the same amount
  each day for 5 days how many did she eat per day?
  (15 / 5? )

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STEP THREE

• Solve the Problem
• Using one of the many problem solving strategies

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Choose a Strategy to Solve the Problem

• Working Backwards
• Drawings and illustrations
• Making an equation
• Visualizations
• Make a Table
• Guess and Check
• Or use your own strategy

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WORKING BACKWARDS

• A problem you would use the working backward
  method on would be something like this
• Mary Ann flew from Marquette, Mi to Los Angeles ,
  CA . It took her 2 hours to get from Marquette to
  Chicago, Il and 4 hours to get from Chicago to
  Los Angeles. If she arrived at 400pm what time
  was it when she left?
• Figure out what you are trying to find. In this
  case it is the time in which she left Marquette.
• Make a plan of action. In this case you would
  take the time she arrived and work backwards by
  subtracting the hours she was in flight.
• 400 (when she arrived in LA) 4 hours (it took
  to go from Chicago to LA) 1200 (time she left
  Chicago). You would then take that time and
  subtract the time it took to go from Chicago to
  Marquette.
• 1200pm 2 hours 1000
  am (?your answer)

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DRAWINGS AND ILLUSTRATIONS

• Drawing a picture is a great way to solve word
  problems. You not only get the answer but it is
  easy to see WHY you get the answer. A good
  example of a problem you would want to make a
  drawing for would be a problem like
• For Stacie's birthday she got a bag of marbles
  from her friend Amy. The bag has 6 red marbles,
  10 blue marbles, 4 yellow marbles, and 1 green
  marble. How many marbles does she have in her
  bag?
• Figure out what you are trying to find How many
  marbles there are in the bag.
• Make a plan Draw out each set of marbles and
  count them up.
• 
  there are a total of 21 marbles!

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MAKE AN EQUATION

• Making an equation of story problems is also a
  great way to solve story problems. You just take
  the numbers from the problem and turn them into
  an equation. This problem would be a good example
  of when to use an equation
• For a school bake sale 5 students each brought in
  something to sell. Keri brought 2 dozen cookies,
  Rachel brought 3 dozen brownies, Max brought 5
  dozen muffins, Michelle brought 1 dozen cupcakes,
  and Sarah brought 4 dozen rice crispy bars. How
  many treats did they have to sell?
• Decide what you are trying to find in this case
  How many treats they will have to sell.
• Make a plan or in this case an equation. We know
  that there are 12 treats in a dozen and we know
  how many dozen cookies we have so here are some
  sample equations you could use
• 2(12)3(12)5(12)1(12)4(12)180
• (23514)12180
• Then just simply solve the Problem Mathematically

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VISUALIZATIONS/HANDS ON

• This problem solving strategy can be the most fun
  and it is very simple. You actually use visuals
  to do the problem much like when using drawings
  but instead of using pencil and paper you use the
  actual things. Say you have a problem like this
• At the beginning and the end of every day Mrs.
  Smith collects and hands back papers. On Monday
  at the beginning of the day she hands back 25 and
  collects 18. At the end of the day she hands back
  29 and collects 26. How many papers will the
  teach have collected on Monday and how many will
  the students have gotten back?
• To do this problem hands on is very simple. I
  would actually take the class and do exactly what
  the story problem says. Hand out some papers,
  collect some paper, and repeat the process. As if
  it were the beginning and end of the day. Then
  when you are finished count the papers the
  students have and how many the teacher has.

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MAKE A TABLE

• Making a table is a very organized and simple way
  to solve some story problems. It is best used
  when dealing with problems like
• Andy and his parents decided that for his
  allowance would go up one dollar and 50 cents
  every week for 3 consecutive weeks. If he starts
  out at getting 6 dollars how much would he make
  week 5?
• Find What will his allowance be week 5?
• Plan Make a chart of what his allowance will be
  each week ?

Week
allowance
1
6.00
2
7.50
3
9.00
4
10.50
5
12.00
12.00
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GUESS AND CHECK

• They guess and check method isnt the fastest but
  it is very effective. You would usually use it on
  problems like this
• If two sisters ages add up to 22 years and one is
  4 years older than the other what are there two
  ages?
• You are trying to find what Their Ages
• Plan Select random numbers that add up to 22
  until you find two that are 4 apart.
• 10 and 12 101222 but 12-102 not 4 8 and 15
  815 22 but 15-86 9 and 13 91322 and 13-94
  so there ages are 9 and 13!

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STEP FOUR

• Writing your answer to the story problem is the
  final step
• When writing the answer there are a few things
  you have to remember
• What are you trying to find
• If your answer should be in units such as (mph,
  cups, or inches)
• Your answer should be in complete sentences

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Examples of Answers

• If Keri has 3 apples and 5 oranges how many more
  oranges does she have than apples?
• Wrong way to Answer this Story Problem
• 2 (it is the right answer but when working with
  story problems you have to explain your answer)
• Right Way to Answer this Story Problem
• Keri has 2 more oranges than apples.

Now that you are familiar with Solving Story
Problems lets test your memory with some
worksheets and a quiz!