#Simple algebra word problems how to

Problems, then the students won't see the step that happens in the mind before If the teacher just jumps directly to the number sentences when solving word Now since the mass of Stonehenge is given, you can solve this equation, and from that knowledge youĬan solve the first equation, and from that go on to the mass of the ' Greater Pyramid'. What are the quantities and the relationship between them here? The first sentence says, 'The mass of the Great Pyramid is 557t greater than that of the Leaning Tower of Pisa'. I figured that after writing the equations I would see some way forwad probably one equation is solved and gives an answer to another equation. When I read this problem, I could immediately see that I could write equations from the different sentences in the problem, but I couldn't And one thing being twice something indicates multiplying by 2. One thing being less than another implies you subtract. One thing being greater than another implies you add. The question is not about how many more so it's not about difference. What was the mass of the Greater Pyramid?Įach of the first three sentences give information that can be translated into an equation. There once was a Greater Pyramid which had a mass twice that of the Great Pyramid. Stone Henge has a mass of 2695t which is 95t less than the Leaning Tower of Pisa. It simply states Greg has 17 more compared to Jack, so here the word more simply indicates addition: Greg has as many as Jack AND 17 more, so Greg has 15 + 17 marbles.Įxample: The mass of the Great Pyramid is 557t greater than that of the Leaning Tower of Pisa. Greg have – not what is the difference in the amounts of marbles. Here the word more has a different meaning.

$simple algebra word problems$

The relationship between the three isĮxample: Greg has 17 more marbles than Jack. The quantities here are Jenny's marbles, Kenny's marbles, and total marbles. The keyword together tells us that ADDITION is probably the operation needed. Then in algebra, there may be more quantities and more operations between them.Įxamples of addition word problems Example. In very simple word problems that relationship usually involves just one of the four basic operations. They need to step out of the 5, 2, 10, 789, or any others numbers in the problem, and see the general quantities involved and how those are related to each other. Students need to see the quantities and the RELATIONSHIP between them. This is of course the exact same task as translating a situation explained in words into a mathematical expression using symbols.Ĭhildren manifest the difficulty in this task when they read a simple word problem and then ask, 'Do I go this times this, or do I divide?', just guessing the operation to perform with the different numbers given in the problem.

$simple algebra word problems$

In this problem there is seemingly lots of information, but really it's about recognizing quantities and the simple relationship between Seeing the quantities and their relationship instead of numbers Problem? What are the steps and fine details? It is these details and steps that I may do automatically that I need to explain to students

#Simple algebra word problems how to

The first thing I do when trying to figure out how to teach something is to analyze my own thinking. Is there a single method to teaching students how to write algebraic equations? I need help. Length of Helen's hair after she visit the hair salon? If h equals the length of hair before she cuts it and c equals the length of hair after she cuts it, which equation would you use to find the I need an easy and helpful way to teach writing equations.Įxample: Helen has 2 inches of hair cut off each time she goes to the hair salon. This article explains some of those relationships. To do that, they need to see the RELATIONSHIP between the different quantities in the problem.

Students often have problems setting up an equation for a word problem in algebra. Menu You are here: Home → Articles → How to set up an equation for a word problem How to set up algebraic equations to match word problems