Word Problem Wednesday: Fractional Reasoning

By Mathnasium | December 16, 2020

Solutions

Excellent!  Are you ready to check your child’s answer? Look below to see if their solution matches ours.

Lower Elementary:
Answer:  3/4
Solution: To find the fraction, we first need to add up all of the awards to find the whole: 3 + 1 = 4. Derek won 3 out of the 4 awards, so the fraction of all the awards that Derek won is 3/4.

Upper Elementary:
Answer:  $17.40
Solution: If the gas tank is 1/5 full, then it will need 4/5 × 15 = 12 gallons of gas to fill it. The 12 gallons of gas it takes to fill the tank costs $1.45 × 12 = $17.40.

Middle School:
Answer:  3/4 of an inch
Solution: The learning center is 54 ÷ 41/2 = 12 times the height of the student. So, the learning center for ants should be 12 times the height of the ant. Since 1/16 × 12 = 12/16 and 12/16 reduces to 3/4, the learning center for ants would be 3/4 of an inch tall.

Algebra and Up:
Answer:  24 feet per second straight down
Solution: If we plug all our given values into the equation, we get this:

16 = x(1/2) – 1/2(32)( 1/2)2

If we simplify that equation, we get this:

16 = x(1/2) – 4

If we then solve for x, we get 24. The initial velocity of the computer is therefore 24 feet per second straight down.