Word problems teach students to become creative thinkers. Many man and woman in history are an excellent example of this innovative thinkers, like Albert Einstein. To be able to solve problems will help students to become independent thinkers. They will come up with new ideas, design, and concepts.
Today I will teach about Number Problems. How to solve number problems, and I will give an example with detailed solution and explanation.
Number problems are problems involving relationship among numbers. The unknown is always a whole number and a positive number, not a mixed number or a fraction.
Read the problem.
The question asks "What are the numbers?" So we should start with "let x = smaller number." Be sure you always start with x (that is, 1x). Never start with "let 2x = something", because it doesn't have any meaning unless you know what x stands for. Always label x as carefully as you can.
Reread the problem one at a time. It is stated in the first line that you have two numbers. So far, you have one number represented by x, and you need to represent two unknowns because the problem asked you two find two unknowns. So read the question carefully. Next, the problem tells you that the sum of two numbers equals to 60. The next statement says ''one number is twice the other''. Here state the second unknown!
Now that two unknowns are represented, we can set up the equation with the used of facts in the problem that has not been used. "The sum is 60.'' that has not been used; by translating it into numbers and letters, we get the equation:
Now let's put it all together.
To check: Just add the two numbers. The sum of two numbers is 60. Thus 20 + 40 = 60.
I hope you learned from this lesson. You can also read my recent topics:
Thank you for your time.
