Comparison or Math Mountain Problems
Declan reads 16 books. He reads 13 fewer books than Ellie. How many books does Ellie read?
29 books
Barry strings beads. He had 54 beads on a string and he took off 38 beads. Then he took off 5 more. How many beads are on the string now?
Answer: 25 beads
Is this answer reasonable? Write an equation and solve the problem.
No the answer is not reasonable.
Equation 54-38-5=11
There are 11 beads on the string now.
Omar has 5 ties and Ryan has 10 ties. How many more ties does Ryan have than Omar?
Draw a comparison drawing and find the answer.
[Show comparison drawing]
Ryan has 5 more ties.
Jason packs 48 grapefruit in 8 boxes for shipping. He packs the same number of grapefruit in each box. How many grapefruit does Jason pack into each box?
Create an equation to solve this problem and then solve.
48/8 = 6 grapefruit
Mr. Taylor arranges some chairs in rows. He puts the same number of chairs in each of 6 rows and puts 6 chairs in the last row. He sets up 60 chairs.
True or False: The equation (6 x c) + 6 = 60 can be used to solve this problem.
True
There are 250 boys and girls in a soccer league. There are 130 girls. How many boys are there?
Create a math mountain and solve the problem.
[Show drawing of math mountain]
There are 120 boys.
Ms. Lance bought 7 packages of paper cups. Each package has 20 cups. She used 57 cups for a party. How many cups does Ms. Lance have left?
Answer: 97 cups
Is the answer reasonable? Give your estimate and then the actual answer
No, the answer is not reasonable
Estimate: 80
Actual answer: 83 cups left
On Wednesday, Jonah sees 30 birds and 5 rabbits. Of the birds, 12 are robins and the rest are pigeons. On Thursday, he sees some more pigeons. He has now seen 27 pigeons. How many pigeons did he see on Thursday?
Choose whether each piece of information is needed or extra. Then solve the problem.
30 birds
5 rabbits
12 robins
27 pigeons
30 birds: needed
5 rabbits: extra
12 robins: needed
27 pigeons: needed
He saw 9 pigeons on Thursday.
Susan buys 39 postcards. She sends 4 postcards to friends. She puts the rest in 5 folders, with an equal number in each folder. How many postcards are in each folder.
Write a first step question and answer to this problem.
Question: How many postcards does she put in folders?
Answer: 35
Marisol picks 180 flowers. She picks 80 red flowers and the rest are yellow. She sells 45 yellow flowers.
Choose two of the following equations that would help you solve the problem.
a) 180 - 80 - 45 = y
b) 180 + 80 - 45 = y
c) 180 = 80 + 45 + y
d) 180 = 80 - 45 + y
c) 180 = 80 + 45 + y
Create a comparison bar and find the answer for the following problem.
Mark makes 15 picture frames this month. He makes 9 fewer picture frames than Sara. How many picture frames does Sara make?
[Show drawing of comparison bar]
Sarah makes 24 picture frames.
Parker has 451 toy dinosaurs in his collection. His sister gives him 25 more toy dinosaurs. Then he sells some of them online. Parker now has 412 toy dinosaurs. How many did he sell?
Answer: 64 toy dinosaurs.
Is this answer reasonable? Give your estimate, then write an equation and solve.
Yes, it is reasonable.
Estimate: 70
Equation: 451 + 25 - d = 412
Answer: d = 64
Holly is going to the beach in 5 weeks and 2 days. Write an equation that can be used to find the number of days until Holly goes to the beach. Then solve.
5 x 7 + 2 = b
b=37 days
An orchard has 7 rows of apples trees. There are 6 rows with 4 apple trees and one row with 3 apple trees. How many apple trees are in the orchard?
Write the first step question and answer.
How many apple trees are in the 6 rows?
6 x 4 = 24 apple trees
Kato uses 63 photos to make online albums. He puts 7 photos in each album. How many albums does Keto make? Let a be the number of albums Kato makes.
Select two of the following equations that could be used to solve this equation.
a) 7 x a = 63
b) 7 x 63 = a
c) 63/7 = a
a) 7 x a =63
c) 63/7 = a
Milo has 34 goldfish. Ivan has 15 fewer goldfish than Milo. How many goldfish does Ivan have?
Draw a comparison bar and find the answer.
[Show drawing of comparison bar]
Ivan has 19 goldfish.
Jake is saving money for a new bike that costs $186. He saved $55 one month and $43 the next month. How much more money does Jake need to buy the bike?
Answer $88
Is the answer reasonable? Write an equation and solve.
Yes, the answer is reasonable.
(186 - 55) - 43 = m
m = $88
Rewrite the problem to include the necessary information. Then solve it.
Answers vary.
You need to know how many cucumbers they picked in all. For example: David and Marne picked 100 cucumbers at a farm. David picks 86 cucumbers. How many did Marne pick? Answer: 14 cucumbers
Kylen made 36 necklaces and gave 6 away. She put the rest in 6 boxes with an equal number in each box. How many necklaces were in each box?
Write a first step question and answer.
How many necklaces did Kylen put in boxes?
36 - 6 = 30
Tara posts 31 flyers for the school carnival. Keisha posts 4 more flyers than Tara. How many flyers did Tara and Keisha post?
66 flyers