Working with Word Problems –Turn Words into Mathematics

Word problems are a challenge in any math course because they require students not only to know how
to solve a problem, but to turn a description into a problem that they can solve. Because word problems
are going to be a part of all of your future math courses, the sooner you can begin to develop strategies
to tackle them, the easier it will be.

Tips

Look for key words and relationships.

Especially in algebra problems, understanding the relationships that you will be using is important for
creating the correct equations from the sentences in front of you. A good example is a term like sum,
which you know means the addition of two or more items. It is very likely that those two items will be
linked by the word and.

Example
The sum of two times a number and seven is thirteen less than three times the number.
Find the number.

In this example we have the word sum, so we look for the word and. The two items being added are two
times a number and seven, so we would change that to 2x + 7.
Some students find it helpful to circle the word and, and underline the two addends, as we did in the
example. Knowing which information is related helps create equations.

Watch for Twists!

One of the things that trips up students is the order of words in a word problem. There are certain
words that need to be written in a different direction than how they are presented. These can be
considered twists, because the words are twisted around to form the algebra. Here are some of the
most common.

In almost any word problem, the words to (or into), from, and than are clues that a twist is coming; each
of these refer to something that follows them in the sentence, but must come before them in an
expression, so we have to twist things around. The following are phrases that relate to particular
operations.
o Addition: add to, added to, more than
o Subtraction: subtract from, subtracted from, less than
o Division: divide ___ into ____, ____ divided into ____
Let’s see how some of these work in a problem.

Example: Subtract 7 from the number of boys in the room.

We will use B for boys, and write this expression as B-7, because we see our twist word from and know
that the order of the 7 and the B must be twisted around to make the operation correct. This is
particularly important for subtraction and division, since we know from our study of the commutative
property that two values can be added in different order without changing the answer, but that is not
true if we subtract or divide.
 Working with Word Problems –Turn Words into Mathematics

Less is more, so weed out the extra.

Word problems often have extra information that is not needed to solve the problem, and that simply
confuses students. Learn to identify they key information and use it! One of the easiest ways is to set up
a system that helps you chart out what you have. A good tool for this is a Know-Need-Find (or KNF)
chart. By setting up a three column grid, you can determine what information you already know, what
missing information you need, and what information you are trying to find.

Let’s look at an example.

Katie got a new puppy for her birthday this year and wants to build a fenced in play area in her backyard.
She wants to create the largest possible area of space with the materials she has, because the puppy is a
Labrador retriever and needs space to run around. She named him Coal because he is jet black and tiny.
If Katie has a total of 40 feet of chain link fence and 4 posts, what is the largest rectangular area she can
build for Coal? What would be the dimensions of the rectangle and its perimeter?

Although it is nice to know, it is really not important what kind of dog Katie has, or what its name is. We
need to focus on the remainder of the information about the size and shape of the play area, and the
materials she has to build it. Again, we are also told it is chain link fence, which is not important for
solving the problem. Let’s build a KNF chart with the remaining information.

KNOW NEED FIND

o 40 feet of fence (length)
o wants a rectangle with
largest possible area
o Area = length x width
o Perimeter = sum of the sides
o to try making rectangles with
different dimensions
o the perimeter of each
rectangle
o the area of each rectangle
o the largest area we can
create with 40 feet of fence
for the perimeter of a
rectangle

From here we can begin trying different sized rectangles until we get our solution.