<p>^Do you guys have any? Those problems are the ones that bring me down every time!</p>
<p>bump 10 char</p>
<p>Read the question. Translate it into equation form. Solve the question.</p>
<p>Read the question CAREFULLY</p>
<p>Cheat off of Joe Bloggs</p>
<p>I'm serious guys! any serious answers???</p>
<p>I was serious. Turn the word problem into an equation. It's almost always the best way to solve it ... at least that's what I think.</p>
<p>I work with many students who struggle with word problems. Here's a sampling of the tactics that I teach them.</p>
<p>The trick with these questions is to make them more approachable so that you can wrap your brain around how to solve them.
The actual math involved is never that tough---the tough part is figuring out what to do.
Always start by asking yourself 2 questions:
1) what does the question ask me to solve for? underline this, make sure it's clear in your mind.
then ask:
2)what do i know from the information given. these types of questions rarely contain any unnecessary info,...every word is important.</p>
<p>Then think of ways to make the question more 'approachable.'
If there are variables in the question and in the answer choice then you'll know immediately that you can substitute in your own values for the variables. Plug in real numbers---find a real answer.
And then plug in your numbers to the answer choices and see which one gives you your answer back.</p>
<p>If there aren't any variables in the answer choices, then you need to carefully translate the word problem into mathematical terms. Remember your math language.
Addition:increased by, more than combined, together, total of, sum, added to
Subtraction:decreased by, minus, less, difference between/of, less than, fewer than
Multiplication: of, times, multiplied by, product of, increased/decreased by a
factor of (this type can involve both addition or subtraction and multiplication!)
Division: per, out of, ratio of, quotient of, percent (divide by 100)
Equals: is, are, was, were, will be, gives, yields, sold for</p>
<p>Do sanity checks as well when you get an answer.
Ask yourself quite simply, does this make sense??</p>
<p>Good luck!</p>
<p>@wannabe here's one for practice:</p>
<p>A house costs n dollars to rent, shared equally among the people living there. Originally 7 people were in the house, however 2 people have dropped out. For each remaining person, the amount in dollars that the rent will increase by is:</p>
<p>A) n/5
B) n/7
C) n/2
D) 2n/35
E) 2n/7</p>
<p>Zomg too. Many. Words.</p>
<p>isn't it D??</p>
<p>Its D.</p>
<p>n/7 is the original price each person had to pay for rent. </p>
<p>2 homedawgs dropped out</p>
<p>n/5 because there's only 5 dawgs left. </p>
<p>n/5 - n/7 is the extra cash each dawg gota chip in to stay alive.</p>
<p>n/5-n/7 -> 7n-5n/35 = 2n/35 iiiiiiteeeeee. peace. GL on the SAT everyone. Im out.</p>
<p>PS: on most word problems, plugging in can be just as efficent, if not more efficient, than algebra. If you aint on fiah wit the algebra, don't play wit the heat and stick to plugging in so ya dont get burned ya digggggg. Im going nuts- im going to get some sleep.</p>