SOLVING WORD PROBLEMS

If you were an employer would you be looking to hirer people who think logically? Today almost all jobs require that you take an employment exam many of these exams will test your ability too logically solve problems. Word problems are one method of training our minds to solve problems in a logical method.

4 apples cost $1. How much does 5 apples cost? Most of us would divided $1 by 4 and multiply the answer by 5
to find that 5 apples cost $1.25.
To make the above into an algebra word problem and to approach it logically, we would select a variable to
identify what we are looking for and then write an equation as done below.

• a = cost of one apple
• a = $1 ÷ 4 = $.25


• t = the cost of 5 apples.
• t = $.25 x 5
• t = $1.25

Try this problem:

• 4 mangoes cost 8 rupees. How much does 6 mangoes cost?    answer
  
• Find the perimeter of the following triangle. One side is 14 centimeter. Another side is 2/5 of the perimeter and the third side is 1/7 of the perimeter. answer
  


Read the following suggestions on how to solve word problems.    instructions

Practice word problems   next

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