Real-Life Problems
Maths: Year 3 & 4 National Curriculum, topic 1.3.5
Real-Life Problems
We can use our knowledge of number relationships, number facts and inverse operations to solve real-life problems. These are sometimes written down for us as word problems so that we can practise.
Word problems
- Word problems are a way of writing down a real life maths problem we need to solve.
- We need to work out what equation (number sentence) fits the word problem.
- Then we need to find the missing number.
Example
- Here is an example of a word problem:
- Megan is three times the number of marbles of her brother James.
- James has 13 marbles
- How many marbles does Megan have?
Missing number problem
- We can write this as a missing number problem with the equation:
- 3 × 13 = ?
Number fact
- We can use our 3 times table to work out the answer:
- 3 × 3 = 9
- 3 × 10 = 30
- 30 + 9 = 39, so that means 3 × 13 = 39.
Answer
- We have not finished yet because we need to answer the question.
- How many marbles does Megan have?
- Megan has 39 marbles.