Problem of the Day
Recreated by Jennifer Johnsen
Source: Scott Foresman Math 4th grade
Problem of the Day 1-1
Tell what information is not needed.
Then solve.
Sue collected 73 bugs and Vern
collected 65 bugs, including 47 with
wings. How man of Vern’s bugs did
not have wings?
Problem of the Day 1-2
How many more milligrams of
calcium does one orange have than
one banana?
Fruit
Apple
Banana
Orange
Peach
Milligrams of Calcium in Fruit
Milligrams of Calcium
10
7
52
4
Problem of the Day 1-3
The sum of my digits is 13.
My hundreds place is 3 less than 5.
My ones place is 4 more than 3.
My thousands place is even.
What 4-digit numbers can I be?
Problem of the Day 1-4
How many more lines of symmetry
does Figure A have than Figure B?
(Hint: Use objects.)
Rectangle
Square
Problem of the Day 1-5
Heather, Erin, and Greg are going
to the movies. List the different
ways they could sit in a row. How
many ways could Erin and Greg sit
next to each other?
Problem of the Day 1-6
Tell the operation needed to solve
the problem.
Toby, Neal, and Quinn each gave
canned food to the Food Drive.
How many cans did they give
altogether?
Problem of the Day 1-7
If you took a shape out of this box
without looking, which shape would
you be most likely to pick? Which
shape would you be least likely to
pick? Explain.
Problem of the Day 1-8
How many more miles did Montel
ride than Vicky?
Train Rides
Montel
Vicky
Monday
15 miles
18 miles
Tuesday
22 miles
13 miles
Problem of the Day 1-9
How many triangles can you find in
the picture? What other shapes can
you find? (Hint: Draw a picture.)
Problem of the Day 1-10
Makena’s turtle crawled 1 foot, 3
inches. Whit’s turtle crawled 16
inches. Ryan’s turtle crawled 11
inches. Which turtle crawled the
furthest? (Hint: 12 inches = 1
foot)
Problem of the Day 1-11
Write a number sentence. Solve.
Lacy bought a hat and a wrench.
How much money did she spend?
$9
$12
Problem of the Day 1-12
Mayan Numerals
Value
Symbol
1
The Mayan civilization (A.D. 5
300 to 900) used these
symbols to represent numbers.
Copy and complete the table.
Value
3
4
7
Symbol Value
9
10
13
Symbol Value
14
15
19
Symbol
Problem of the Day 1-13
Mr. Cho bought 75 apples, 55
oranges, and some pears. After he
sold 3 oranges, he had 212 pieces of
fruit left. How many pears did Mr.
Cho buy?
Problem of the Day 1-14
Jason had $0.87 in his pocket. He
took out 3 quarters. List all of the
possible combinations of coins he
could have left in his pocket. (Hint:
Make an organized list.)
Problem of the Day 2-1
Ezra has an apple, a pear, a banana,
and an orange. He can take only two
pieces of fruit on his field trip.
What different combinations of
fruit can he take?
Problem of the Day 2-2
Draw a picture to show
the main idea. Solve.
The animal rescue
association put this ad
in the newspaper:
How many animals need
adopting?
Available for
Immediate
Adoption:
29 cats
15 dogs
Problem of the Day 2-3
Place these stadiums in order from
least to greatest according to their
seating capacity.
Stadium
Seats
Stadium S
66,944
Stadium B
65,600
Stadium J
66,321
Stadium R
56,127
Stadium T
65,675
Stadium V
65,352
Problem of the Day 2-4
Dennis had $9 on Monday. He
earned $3 on Tuesday for mowing
the yard. On Friday he spent $4 at
a bookstore. How much did he have
then?
Problem of the Day 2-5
Sally made 8 bookmarks.
Each bookmark was made with 3
ribbons. How many ribbons did she
use?
(Hint: Make a table.)
Problem of the Day 2-6
Mrs. Taylor makes hummingbird
food. She uses 4 cups of water for
every 1 cup of sugar. How many
cups of water does she need if she
has 5 cups of sugar?
Problem of the Day 2-7
What information is needed to solve
the problem?
In a football game, the winning
team passed for 47 more yards
than the losing team. How many
yards did the winning team pass
for?
Problem of the Day 2-8
Cinco de Mayo is a Mexican holiday.
It helps people remember the
victory of the Mexican Army over
the French at the Battle of Puebla
in 1862. How long has it been since
the Battle of Puebla?
Problem of the Day 2-9
Vincent has 383 football cards and
439 baseball cards. How many more
does he need to have 1,000 sports
cards?
Problem of the Day 2-10
How did the number of tickets sold
change over the week? (Hint:
Make a bar graph.)
High School Football Tickets Sold
Day
Tickets
Monday
12
Tuesday
23
Wednesday
35
Thursday
40
Friday
55
Problem of the Day 2-11
Between which two years did
Trevor grow the most? (Hint:
Make a line graph.)
Trevor’s Height
Year
Height
Year 1
30 inches
Year 2
35 inches
Year 3
38 inches
Year 4
41 inches
Year 5
43 inches
Problem of the Day 2-12
Write an expression. Find its value.
Roger found 6 shells. Tom found 8
more shells than Roger. How many
shells did Tom find?
Problem of the Day 2-13
How many right angles are in each
figure below?
Figure B
Figure A
Figure C
Problem of the Day 2-14
Carrie bought a soccer ball and a
bat. How much change should she
get from $10.00?
$3.49
$3.49
$2.89
Problem of the Day 3-1
In which step will the number
200,000 appear? (Hint: Look for a
pattern.)
Step 1: 194,000
Step 2: 195,000
Step 3: 196,000; and so on.
Problem of the Day 3-2
Look for a pattern. Draw the next
two shapes.
Problem of the Day 3-3
Write a number expression.
Give its value.
Antonio had $134 in his savings
account. He put in $67 more. How
much was in Antonio’s account then?
Problem of the Day 3-4
The country of Indonesia is a group
of islands between Asia and
Australia. It has an area of
704,400 square miles and the 4th
greatest population in the world,
228,437,870 people. Write the
word form for each number.
Problem of the Day 3-5
Jason bought 4 packages of pencils
and 3 packages of pencil erasers.
How many extra erasers did he
have?
8 erasers per
package
5 pencils per
package
Problem of the Day 3-6
Lee and Amy fed their dog Sox 24
days in a row. Lee fed Sox two days
more than Amy. How many days did
each feed Sox? (Hint: Try, check,
and revise.)
Problem of the Day 3-7
Mr. Carter spent $16 for museum
admission. He had 3 people with
him. Which tickets did he buy?
Admission Prices
Ticket (age)
Child (0-18)
Adult (19-55)
Senior (56 and
over)
Price
$3
$6
$4
Problem of the Day 3-8
Draw a picture to show the main
idea. Then solve.
What is the area of water in South
Carolina?
South Carolina
Land
Water
Total
Area
(in square miles)
30,109
?
32,020
Problem of the Day 3-9
Jo spent $18. Copy and complete
the table to show how much she had
left if she started with d dollars.
d
23
41
52
74
100
d-18
34
Problem of the Day 3-10
Mona and Cora are playing a game
that uses the spinner shown. Give
the chances of spinning each
outcome.
1
1
3
2
2
0
1
3
Problem of the Day 3-11
Use the table to decide who came in first.
(Hint: Use logical reasoning.)
• Diane was third.
• Desi was NOT first.
• Kevin was second.
Kevin
1st
2nd
3rd
4th
Diane
Whitney
Desi
Problem of the Day 3-12
Suzanne’s birthday is in June.
What is the date of her birthday?
(Hint: Use a calendar.)
• The date has 2 digits.
• The sum of the digits is 5.
• The date of her birthday is an odd
number.
Problem of the Day 3-13
Write the hidden questions. Solve.
In the 2000 Summer Olympics, how
many more medals did the U.S. win
than China?
2000 Summer Olympics
Gold
Silver
Bronze
U.S.
40
24
33
China
28
16
15
Problem of the Day 3-14
How much longer do goose eggs
incubate than pigeon eggs?
Incubation Time of Eggs
30
25
20
Days 15
10
5
0
Chicken
Duck
Goose
Eggs
Pigeon
Turkey
Problem of the Day 3-15
The flower shop bought 27 red
roses and 32 yellow roses. How
many arrangements can they make
like the one shown?
Problem of the Day 4-1
Mr. Gilbert is putting new numbers
on apartments 1 through 20 in his
apartment complex. How many
digits will he use to number these
apartments? (Hint: Solve a simpler
problem.)
Problem of the Day 4-2
Asian Rivers
Which river or
rivers round to
1,300 miles when
rounded to the
nearest hundred
and 1,320 miles
when rounded to
the nearest ten?
River
Irrawaddy
Length
(miles)
1,337
Kolyma
1,323
Syr
1,370
Tarim
1,261
Problem of the Day 4-3
Land Area of States
Tell if you need an
exact answer or an
estimate. Then
solve. Which states
combined have about
18,000 square miles
of land area?
State
Square
Miles
Maryland
9,774
Massachusetts
7,840
New Hampshire
8,968
New Jersey
7,417
Vermont
9,250
Problem of the Day 4-4
Find the area of the playground
below. Write your answer in square
units.
Problem of the Day 4-5
Jerico had $50.00. She bought
a pair of shoes and a skirt. The tax
was $3.81. How much money did
Jerico have left?
$18.99
$25.99
Problem of the Day 4-6
Mr. Greer cut a board into two
equal pieces. After he cut 5 inches
off one of the pieces, the rest of it
was 7 inches. How long was the
original board? (Hint: Work
backward.)
Problem of the Day 4-7
Tessa bought a
poster, a paperback
book, and a
bookmark. She had
$0.55 left. How
much did Tessa have
before she bought
these items?
Prices
Bookmarks $0.75
Paperback
Books
$2.95
Posters
$1.75
Problem of the Day 4-8
Tell what operation.
Then solve.
How many days are in 9
weeks?
Problem of the Day 4-9
In 2000, the population of
the state of Wyoming was
493,782. What would the
population be if there were
an increase of 10,000? Of
100,000?
Problem of the Day 4-10
Mrs. Kelly bought 20 yards
of material. She made 4
dresses. Each dress used 3
yards. How many yards of
material did Mrs. Kelly have
left?
Problem of the Day 4-11
Rachel and Ryan are having
a party. Rachel invited 6
friends, and Ryan invited 9.
Write a number sentence to
find how many friends Rachel
and Ryan invited in all.
Problem of the Day 4-12
Tiana received 13 greeting
cards. Seven of the cards
came from people who lived in
other states. Write a number
sentence to find how many
cards came from people who
live in her state.
Problem of the Day 4-13
Miles Jackson Rode
16
14
Miles
Write the
hidden questions.
Solve. Did
Jackson ride more
miles Tuesday and
Wednesday or
Thursday and
Friday?
12
10
8
6
4
2
0
Monday
Tuesday
Wednesday
Days
Thursday
Friday
Problem of the Day 4-14
Explain if the spinner below
is fair or unfair. If it is unfair,
draw a spinner that would be
fair.
Yellow
Blue
Green
Red
Problem of the Day 4-15
Joy started her homework
at 4:45 P.M. She worked for
20 minutes, ate dinner for 30
minutes, and then worked 20
more minutes. What time did
Joy finish her homework?
Problem of the Day 5-1
The figure below has a
perimeter of 18 units. Where
can you move two of the
squares to make a figure with a
perimeter of 12 units? (Hint:
Use objects.)
Problem of the Day 5-2
Copy the parallelogram.
Make one straight cut so that
the two pieces can be arranged
to form a rectangle.
Problem of the Day 5-3
Write an
expression. Then
find its value.
River Lengths
Rivers
Amazon
How much longer
is the Amazon
River than the
Chang River?
Chang
3940
3950
3960
3970
3980
Miles
3990
4000
4010
Problem of the Day 5-4
When will be the next Year
of the Tiger? Year of the
Horse?
Tiger
1986
1995
1983
Pig
1998
Monkey Sheep
1992
1991
2004
2003
Problem of the Day 5-5
Miss Amy had $178.34.
Then she taught four 2-hour
flute lessons. She charged
$20 an hour. How much did she
have after the flute lessons?
Problem of the Day 5-6
Sasha is making a border
near her ceiling. She puts up 3
stars, 2 moons, 3 stars, 2
moons, and so on. If she uses 8
moons and then stops, how
many stars has she used?
(Hint: Draw a picture.)
Problem of the Day 5-7
Manny is shorter than Rex,
but taller than Victor. Rex is
shorter than Steve. Who is
the tallest?
Problem of the Day 5-8
Tell what information is not
needed. Then solve. Mrs.
Keagan needs 1 pound of meat
and 2 slices of bread to make
15 meatballs. How many
meatballs can she make out of
5 pounds of meat?
Problem of the Day 5-9
What is the probability of
taking a star out of the bag? a
circle? (Hint: Use fractions.)
Problem of the Day 5-10
Copy and complete the
invoice. How much did Happy
Kitties spend on supplies?
Invoice
Quantity
Item
3
2
4
Bags of Cat Litter
Bags of Cat Food
Bags of Cat Treats
Price of One Price of All
$3.78
$4.96
$3.19
TAX
TOTAL
?
?
?
$2.89
?
Problem of the Day 5-11
Find all the
different
combinations of
uniforms Kathleen
could wear.
(Hint: Make an
organized list.)
Uniform Choices
Bottoms
Shorts
Pants
Tops
Blue
Navy
Red
White
Problem of the Day 5-12
Hailey likes sausage,
pepperoni, hamburger, and
Canadian bacon on her pizza.
List all the combinations of two
meat toppings she could order
Problem of the Day 6-1
Each package of trading
cards has 20 cards. Mrs.
Wininger bought 2 packages
for each of her 4 children.
Write a number sentence to
find the number of cards Mrs.
Wininger purchased.
Problem of the Day 6-2
These are Chinese words used for
some numbers:
1 yi
3 san
6 liu
10 shi
11
13
shiyi
shisan
What word is used for 16? Explain.
Problem of the Day 6-3
How much greater is the
perimeter of Figure A than
Figure B? (Remember:
Perimeter is the distance
around the shape.)
Figure A
Figure B
8 inches
4 inches
12 inches
12 inches
Problem of the Day 6-4
Tyrone gets $2 after every
third time he takes the dog
out for a walk. If he has
walked the dog 27 times this
month, how much money has
he earned? (Hint: Make a
table.)
Problem of the Day 6-5
The zoo offers 5 boat tours
and 8 train tours every day.
How many tours will the train
have made when the boat has
made 35 tours? (Hint: Make
a table.)
Problem of the Day 6-6
Tell what operation. Solve.
Mr. Top is printing programs
for the seats at the dinner
theater. There are 45 tables
that each seat 4 people. How
many programs must he print?
Problem of the Day 6-7
Graph (4, 1), (1, 2), and (4,4).
Then connect the points. Is
the triangle you formed right,
acute, or obtuse? (Hint: Use
graph paper.)
Problem of the Day 6-8
Which state has a greater
difference in altitude?
Altitude of States
State
Arkansas
Highest Point
Magazine Mountain
2,753 feet
North Dakota
White Butte
3,506 feet
Lowest Point
Ouachita River
55 feet
Red River
750 feet
Problem of the Day 6-9
Between which
two weeks did
Tori’s plant grow
the most?
(Hint: Make a
line graph.)
Tori’s Plant Growth
Week
1
2
3
4
5
Height in
inches
1
3
4
8
9
Problem of the Day 6-10
How did the attendance at
after-school tutoring change
over the week? (Hint: Make a
bar graph.)
After-School Tutoring Attendance
Day
Attendance
Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday
10
14
20
25
Friday
6