Word Problem Wednesday: Mathematical Mixed Bag IV

By Mathnasium | December 30, 2020

Solutions

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

Lower Elementary:
Answer:  35 square feet in area, 24 feet in perimeter
Solution:  If we draw a picture of the garden broken into square feet, it’ll look like this:

If we count the squares, we find that there are 35 square feet in the garden. If we count around, we see that the garden has 24 feet of fence around it.

Upper Elementary:
Answer:  10 pages per week
Solution:  If there are 52 weeks in a year, then there are 104 weeks in 2 years. To find the average number of pages John wrote on an average week, we divide 1,040 pages by 104 weeks and get 10. John wrote an average of 10 pages per week.

Middle School:
Answer:   12:12 a.m.
Solution:  First, we need to know how long the night is: there are 12 hours from 5:37 p.m. to 5:37 a.m. and another 1 hour and 10 minutes until 6:47 a.m. So, the night is 13 hours and 10 minutes long. Halfway through the night is (13 hours + 10 minutes) ÷ 2 = 6 hours and 35 minutes after 5:37 p.m., which is 12:12 a.m.

Algebra and Up:
Answer:   191/2 milliliters
Solution:  When we graph the rate of dripping rain in terms of time, we get a line whose y-intercept is 15 milliliters per minute and whose x-intercept is 23/5 minutes. The shape formed under the graph is a triangle. To find how much rain gets in as Paul fixes the hole, we find the area of the triangle, which is 1/2 (15 milliliters per minute × 23/5 minutes) = 191/2 milliliters.