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Solving Number Problems with Solutions

The document contains 3 word problems involving numbers and their solutions: 1) A group of birds met another bird, and were told they needed that bird plus half their group to make 100 birds. The number of original birds was 66. 2) A master and servant killed some birds and hares, counting 6 heads and 16 legs. They killed 4 birds and 2 hares. 3) A man could chop wood in 6 hours. After 2 hours of work, a boy joined and they finished in 2 more hours. It would take the boy alone 18 hours to chop the wood.

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Hasani Oriel Maphophe
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16 views7 pages

Solving Number Problems with Solutions

The document contains 3 word problems involving numbers and their solutions: 1) A group of birds met another bird, and were told they needed that bird plus half their group to make 100 birds. The number of original birds was 66. 2) A master and servant killed some birds and hares, counting 6 heads and 16 legs. They killed 4 birds and 2 hares. 3) A man could chop wood in 6 hours. After 2 hours of work, a boy joined and they finished in 2 more hours. It would take the boy alone 18 hours to chop the wood.

Uploaded by

Hasani Oriel Maphophe
Copyright
© All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PPTX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd

PROBLEMS INVOLVING NUMBERS

PROBLEM 1
Some birds were flying and met a bird on their way. The bird greeted
them; hello hundred! They said we are not hundred; we need half of us
plus you to make us hundred. How many birds were flying?

Possible answers:
A. 198
B. 49
C. 66
D. 51
E. 101
F. 199

Show me the answer.


SOLUTION
Let the number of birds be x

Then half the number of birds will be

Then, x + + 1 = 100

2x + x + 2 = 200 (Multiply both sides by 2)

2x + x = 200 – 2 (Transfer numerals to RHS)

3x = 198 Collect like terms)

x = 66 (Divide throughout by 3)

Therefore, the correct answer is C


PROBLEM 2
A master and his servant went to the forest to hunt birds and hares.
After killing a number of birds and hares, the master asked the servant:
“How many birds and hares do you count?”
The servant replied: “I count six heads and sixteen legs.”

How many birds and hares were killed?


SOLUTION
METHOD 1
Let the number of birds be x
Then the number of hares will be (6 – x)
(A the total number of heads is six, it means that there are 6 animals)

Therefore,
2x+ 4(6 – x) = 16 (A bird has 2 legs and a hare has 4 legs)
2x + 24 – 4x = 16 (Remove brackets)
2x – 4x = 16 – 24 (Take numerals to RHS)
-2x = - 8 (Collect like terms)
x=4 (Divide throughout by -2)
(6 – x ) = 6 – 4
=2

Therefore, 4 birds and 2 hares were killed


SOLUTION
METHOD 2
Let the number of birds be x ; and
The number of hares be y

Therefore, x+ y = 6 ……….(1)
(There are six animals)

2x + 4y = 16 ……….(2)
(A bird has 2 legs and a hare has 4 legs and there are 16 legs altogethe
x+ 2y = 8 ……….(3)
(Divide throughout by 2)
(3)-(1): y = 2 ……….(4)
Substitute y = 2 from (4) in (1):
x+2=6
Therefore, x = 4

Therefore, 4 birds and 2 hares were killed


PROBLEM 3
A man has a pile of wood to chop which will give him six hours’ work. After
chopping for two hours, he gets the help of a boy and together, they finish in
another two hours. How long would it take the boy alone to chop the pile of
wood?

• Possible answers:
A. 5 hours
B. 8 hours
C. 9 hours
D. 11 hours
E. 12 hours
• F. 18 hours

• Show me the answer.


SOLUTION

Let the boy finish chopping a pile of wood in x hours,


Therefore in 1 hour, he would have chopped

In 6 hours, a man finishes chopping a pile of wood.


Therefore in 1 hour, would have chopped
But in 2 hours, the man has finished

So the outstanding portion of wood to be chopped is


Together in 3 hours, the man and the boy: 3( + ) =
Multiply throughout by 6x: Therefore, 18 + 3x = 4x
Therefore x = 18

Therefore it would have taken the boy 18 hours to finish chopping a pile of
wood. Option F is the correct answer.

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