Click here [1] for the Problem Extension Worksheet version of the Problems of the Week.
Click here [2] for an MS Word version of the Problems of the Week.
Click here [3] for the Canadian Problem Extension Worksheet version of the Problems of the Week.
Click here [4] for a Canadian MS Word version of the Problems of the Week.
Lower Elementary:
Question: William has 3 fruit trees in his garden. He picks 8 apples from the apple tree, 6 pears from the pear tree, and 7 limes from the lime tree. How many pieces of fruit did William pick?
Answer: 21 pieces of fruit
Solution: To find the total, add the apples and the pears, and then add the limes: 8 + 6 = 14. Then, 14 + 7 = 21.
[5]Upper Elementary:
Question: Harrison has a full 3–gallon watering can. He uses 5/8 of the water on the gardenias in his garden. How much water did the gardenias get?
Answer: 15 pints
Solution: First we converted the amount of water from gallons into pints because a pint is 1/8 of a gallon. Harrison had 24 pints of water. Then we found 5/8 of 24 and determined Harrison used 15 pints of water.
[6]Middle School:
Question: Lily is making labels for the plants in her garden. Each label is made of a white 3″ × 5″ laminated against a colorful 5″ × 8″ card. What is the area of the front of each label that isn’t covered by the white card?
Answer: 25 square inches
Solution: First, we need to find the area of the larger card. That’s 5 × 8 = 40 square inches. Next, we subtract the part that’s covered by the white card, which is 3 × 5 = 15 square inches. Then we subtract the area of the small card from the larger card, which gives us 40 – 15 = 25 square inches.
[7]Algebra and Up:
Question: Cameron is selling flowers from his garden. By selling large bouquets for $21 and small bouquets for $15, he makes $540. If he sells a total of 30 bouquets, how many large bouquets did Cameron sell?
Answer: 15 large bouquets
Solution: We can use the equations 21L + 15S = 540 and L + S = 30 to solve for both variables. First, we solve for S in the second equation. That gives us that S = 30 – L. We can plug that value of S into the original equation, so 21L + 15(30 – L) = 540. If we solve for L, we get 15.