Word Problems

A wide variety of word problems are most easily solved by finding a "unit rate."  (Sometimes these types of problems can also be solved using proportions, so it can be a matter of which method you feel most comfortable with!)

Unit rate problems usually start by stating a rate for a group.  They might tell you that t-shirts cost 4 for \$15.  Or they might tell you that a carton of a dozen eggs costs \$2.40.  Or, they might tell you that a runner can run a mile (four laps) in 5 minutes. 

Many word problems that look difficult contain only basic math operations that students already know how to do.  But, there's something about combining a lot of those operations in a real life (or silly life) situation that makes these questions daunting.

There is no hard and fast method that will work for every word problem, but most word problems are most easily solved if you read the questions carefully, and try to move step by step, breaking the problem down and doing each part of it.

A sequence is a set of numbers that follows some kind of rule or pattern.  Sometimes you have to figure out the rule that creates the sequence, other times the sequence is given to you.