5 Steps for Solving Word Problems 1) WHAT? Ask yourself: What does the problem want you to find? What is thequestion asking for? An area, or the number of people, or a cost, or an average, or the height of a building? In this step, you identify what the problem asks you to find. If you are careless with this step, your answer will be wrong. 2) HOW? How will you do this problem? What mathematical operation must you use – do you add, subtract, multiply, or divide? Will you need to do more than one operation? In this step, you look at the information in the problem and decide what operation or operations will give you the answer. This step requires the most thinking of all. 3) HELP You probably won’t be able to do the math in your head. You will need help. Setting up your computation is one kind of help. Using a formula, or a graph, or a table, or drawing a diagram are other kinds of help. 4) COMPUTE This is the step where you actually “do the math.” At the end of this step, you should have your answer. This is the one step that nobody forgets to do! 5) CHECK At the end of Step 4, you have your answer, but it may not be correct. Everybody makes mistakes. You have to check your answer to make sure it is correct. There are several ways to check your answer. This step is the only way to catch the mistakes you made. Practice the steps Example Joan opened a checking account with a deposit of $345.89 on Monday. On Wednesday, she withdrew $79.98. How much money does she have left in her account? 1) WHAT question does the problem want answered? (Look at the question sentence.) a. How much money did Joan withdraw from her account? b. How much money did Joan deposit in her account? c. How much money was left in Joan’s account? 2) WHAT will the answer be? a. The amount of money in the account after Joan withdrew $79.98. b. The amount of money at the start of the account. c. The amount of money withdrawn from the account. 3) Which of these underlined words gives you the best hint on HOW to solve the problem? a. Joan opened a checking account. b. Joan made a deposit. c. How much money does she have left in her account? 4) Which operation do you use to solve this problem? a. Addition b. Subtraction c. Division 5) What kind of HELP would be best for solving this example? a. A diagram of a bank. b. A table of interest rates. c. A computation set up. 6) Which of these computations set ups will be the best HELP in solving the example? a. $345.89 + $78.98 = b. $345.89 - $78.98 = c. $78.98 - $345.89 = d. $78.98 * $345.89 = e. $345.89 / $78.98 = 7) What operation do you use in the COMPUTE setp? a. Addition b. Subtraction c. Multiplication d. Division 8) COMPUTE the answer. The answer is: a. $266.91 b. $424.87 c. $4.38 9) CHECK your answer by answering the following question: Why is the answer reasonable? a. It is less than the original amount deposited in the bank. b. It is more than the original amount deposited in the bank. c. It is equal to the amount deposited in the bank. 10) How else can we CHECK the computation for this example? a. Addition b. Subtraction c. Multiplication d. Division 11) Check your answer. Is your answer the same as the first number in the problem?
