They Really Come in Handy!
You may think you’ve never heard of a unit rate, but you use them all the time! A unit rate measures the number of something per 1 unit of something else. For example, 50 miles per hour, four students per teacher, and so on. Let’s practice using units and unit rates to solve this week’s word problems.
Pick the word problem below that’s the right skill level for you. Take your time working it out. When you feel you’ve found the answer, see the next page to check your solution against ours. No peeking, and have fun!
Lower Elementary:
Question: Anthony sails 9,500 miles from Turkey to Peru. If Anthony takes the same route back to Turkey from Peru, how far will he have sailed in total?
Upper Elementary:
Question: Nellie puts a batch of pies into the oven at 6:17 AM. When they go into the oven, the internal temperature of the pies is 60° Fahrenheit. The temperature increases at a rate of 2.5° per minute. If Nellie wants the internal temperature of the pies to reach 160°, at what time should she take them out of the oven?
Middle School:
Question: It takes a barber 12 minutes to shave a face and 30 minutes to give a haircut. The barber works for 3 hours straight and spends twice as much time shaving faces as he does giving haircuts. If none of his customers get both a haircut and a shave, then how many customers does he see in total?
Algebra and Up:
Question: A cottage by the sea has a value of $750,000, which has increased at an annual rate of 5% for the past 10 years. How much was the cottage worth 10 years ago? You may use your calculator.
