Wordy Real-Life Problems

Wordy questions can be a bit-off-putting - for these you don't just have to do the maths, you've got to work out what the question's asking you to do. It's really important that you begin by reading through the question really carefully...

Relax and work through them step by step:

1) READ the question carefully. Work out what bit of maths you need to answer it.

2) Underline the INFORMATION YOU NEED to answer the question - you might not have to use all the numbers they give you.

3) Write out the question IN MATHS and answer it, showing all your working clearly.

EXAMPLES
1. A return car journey from Carlisle to Manchester uses 4/7 of a tank of petrol? It costs £36 for a full tank of petrol. How much does the journey cost?

You want to know 4/7 of £56, so in maths: 4/7 x £56 = £32. Therefore, the cost of the journey is £32. Don't forget the units in your final answer - this is a question about cost in pounds, so the units will be £.

2. A water company has two different price plans for water usage:

PLAN A No fixed cost 23p per unit

PLAN B Fixed cost of £12 Plus 11p per unit

A household uses 102 units of water in one month. Which price plan would be cheaper for this household in that particular month?

Cost with plan A: 102 x £0.23 = £23.46

Cost with plan B: £12 + (102 x £0.11) = £23.22

Thus, plan B is the more economical choice, saving the household £0.24 compared to plan A.

3. Vashti buys dog food in boxes of 20 packets. Each box costs £12.50. She has 3 dogs which each eat 2 packets per day. How much will it cost her to buy enough boxes of food for all of her dogs for 4 weeks?

Number of packets for 3 dogs for 1 day = 3 × 2 = 6

Number of packets for 3 dogs for 4 weeks = 6 × 7 × 4 = 168

Number of boxes needed = 168/20 = 8.4

Vashti can’t buy part of a box, so she needs to buy 9 boxes.

9 x £12.50 = £112.50