Word Problems

Word problems are like fashion styles. They come back but never the exact same way twice. The other problem with word problems is that, according to Mel Levine, "They defy the order of mention rule."

You know the problem of the bus? It goes something like this:

    Kimo and Mark decide to take the bus up to the North Shore to watch the Eddie Aikau Big Wave surf contest. So they get on the bus in Honolulu at Ala Moana. The bus was empty when they got on. The bus made the next stop and two people got on. Then it stopped again and one person got off but another three got on. It made yet another stop and 2 people got off and 7 got on. It traveled several miles before stopping again but by the time it reached Sunset beach, it stopped again and let off 8 people and let 4 get on. By the time it reached Waimea Beach, how many stops did the bus make?

See what happens? The main idea of the question, the point of the whole thing, comes at the end of the problem. You were probably counting all the people getting on and off when really, they were just trying to throw you off with a lot of unimportant information.

The trick is that when you see a word problem, first look for the point of the problem, the reason you are solving it. Then look for a pattern: Where have you seen this type of problem before? What does it look like? How is it different? You can then circle all the relevant words and numbers. Then try to put the words into an equation.

Math Skills