It’s Amazing What You Can Do!
Running for class elections, playing sports, and making art all require lots of talent and skill! Practice this week’s word problem for ideas on how you might use math to practice and develop your own special abilities!
Choose the word problem below that’s the right skill level for you. Take your time working it out — and no peeking! We know you can do it! When you feel you’ve found the answer, see the next page to check your solution against ours.
Lower Elementary:
Question: Jake is practicing his tetherball skills. Every time he hits the ball, it takes 6 seconds to swing back around the pole. How many times can Jake hit the ball in 45 seconds?
Upper Elementary:
Question: Deb usually shoots glamour portraits for $26.00, but today they are discounted at 75% off. How much do glamour portraits cost today?
Middle School:
Question: Pedro is running for class president. Right now, 1⁄12 of the students in Pedro’s class plan to vote for him. He has 1 opponent and 5 weeks to campaign. If there are 144 students in his class, then how many more students does he need to convince to vote for him in order to win the election?
Algebra and Up:
Question: Rico throws a football into the air. The football’s height above the ground in meters after a given amount of time in seconds t can be found using the function f(t) = –5t2 + 15t + 2. How long does the football stay in the air after Rico throws it? You may use your calculator. Round your answer to the nearest tenth of a second.
