Taking the Words Out of Word Problems

1
Taking the Words Out of Word Problems

• How to turn word problems into math problems
• Part 4 Combining Everything

2
The Steps

• Read the entire problem first.
• Identify the people in the problem.
• Identify their stuff
• Draw unit bars
• Read the problem again, one bit at a time, and
  label the unit bars.
• Determine the question and illustrate it on the
  unit bar
• Compute the problem
• Write the answer as a complete sentence

3
David has twice as many goldfish as Bianca. Marcy
as 7 more goldfish than Bianca. Together they
have 75 fish. How many fish does Bianca have?
David's fish
Marcy's fish
Bianca's fish
Read the entire problem first.Identify the people
in the problem.Identify their stuff
4
David has twice as many goldfish as Bianca. Marcy
as 7 more goldfish than Bianca. Together they
have 75 fish. How many fish does Bianca have?
David's fish
Marcy's fish
Bianca's fish
Draw Unit Bars
5
David has twice as many goldfish as Bianca. Marcy
as 7 more goldfish than Bianca. Together they
have 75 fish. How many fish does Bianca have?
David's fish
Marcy's fish
7
75
Bianca's fish
Label Unit Bars
6
David has twice as many goldfish as Bianca. Marcy
as 7 more goldfish than Bianca. Together they
have 75 fish. How many fish does Bianca have?
David's fish
Marcy's fish
7
75
Bianca's fish
?
Illustrate the question
7
David has twice as many goldfish as Bianca. Marcy
as 7 more goldfish than Bianca. Together they
have 75 fish. How many fish does Bianca have?
David's fish
Marcy's fish
7
75
Bianca's fish
?
75 - 7 68 68 4 17
Compute the problem
8
David has twice as many goldfish as Bianca. Marcy
as 7 more goldfish than Bianca. Together they
have 75 fish. How many fish does Bianca have?
David's fish
Marcy's fish
7
75
Bianca's fish
?
75 - 7 68 68 4 17
Write the answer as a complete sentence
Bianca as 17 fish
9
The Steps

• Read the entire problem first.
• Identify the people in the problem.
• Identify their stuff
• Draw unit bars
• Read the problem again, one bit at a time, and
  label the unit bars.
• Determine the question and illustrate it on the
  unit bar
• Compute the problem
• Write the answer as a complete sentence