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Problem Solving 

How do you use what you have learned to problem solve?

Goal:

Goal:

Practice!

Goal: Apply what you have learned about repeated subtraction to solve a word problem.

Can you take away equal groups to solve a problem? First, let’s review the word problem-solving steps.

Word Problem Solving Steps

  1. Read the problem.
  2. Look for important information.
  3. Write a math sentence.
  4. Choose a way to solve.
  5. Solve and label your answer.

Take out 50 counters and a sheet of paper. You will be prompted to follow along with the problem. Click through the tabs below to follow the steps to solve Logan’s problem.

Read the Problem

The first step is to read the problem. Read through the problem below. Read it out loud if you can!

Logan wants to write a story about 45 dragons. They need to be in equal groups to go on 9 quests. How many dragons will go on each quest?

Find the Important Information

Logan wants to write a story about 45 dragons. They need to be in equal groups to go on 9 quests. How many dragons will go on each quest?

Next, you need to look for the important information. The problem has the information you need. There are numbers, a key word, and a question. The dividend is highlighted in red. The divisor is highlighted in yellow.

Click Show Me to see!


Logan wants to write a story about 45 dragons. They need to be in equal groups to go on 9 quests. How many dragons will go on each quest?

45 and 9 are the important numbers. “Equal groups” are the key words. The question is the last sentence in the problem.

Write an Equation

Logan wants to write a story about 45 dragons. They need to be in equal groups to go on 9 quests. How many dragons will go on each quest?

Write this at the top of your sheet of paper.

___ \({ \div }\) ___ = ___

The problem uses words that tell you to divide. 45 and 9 are the important numbers. Fill in the dividend and divisor in the division sentence. The dividend goes on the first line. The divisor goes on the second line.

Click Show Me to see the division sentence!


45 \({ \div }\) 9 = ___

Now you need the minuend and repeated subtrahend. Put the minuend on the first line of the subtraction sentence. Put the repeated subtrahend on the second line. Click Show Me to see the subtraction sentence!


45 - 9 - ___ - ___ - ___ - ___ = 0

Choose a Way to Solve

Logan wants to write a story about 45 dragons. They need to be in equal groups to go on 9 quests. How many dragons will go on each quest?

We will use repeated subtraction to help us solve the problem.

Write this on your sheet of paper under your division sentence.

45 \({ \div }\) 9 = ___

45 - 9 - ___ - ___ - ___ - ___ = 0

Draw a large box on your sheet of paper. Put 45 counters in the box. Use the counters and the box to solve. Each counter stands for one dragon!

array of 5 by 9

Then, take out equal groups of counters to show the repeated subtrahend. Write “- 9” each time an equal group is taken out.

Click Show me to see how you did!


45 \({ \div }\) 9 = ___

45 - 9 - 9 - 9 - 9 - 9 = 0

array of 5 by 9

Solve and Label Your Answer

Logan wants to write a story about 45 dragons. They need to be in equal groups to go on 9 quests. How many dragons will go on each quest?

45 \({ \div }\) 9 = ___

45 - 9 - 9 - 9 - 9 - 9 = 0

array of 5 by 9

Find the quotient. It will be the number of equal groups of counters.


45 \({ \div }\) 9 = 5

45 - 9 - 9 - 9 - 9 - 9 = 0

There are 5 groups of 9 to take away. 5 is the quotient!


The answer needs to have a label word. The number and word will answer the question in the problem!

Question:

How many dragons will go on each quest?

5 dragons


Try to solve the next problem on your own.

Read and Solve

Use your counters and paper to solve the problem.

Logan wants to write a story about 50 dragons. They need to be in equal groups to go on 10 quests. How many dragons will go on each quest?

5 dragons
10 quests
6 dragons

You got # out of # correct. Click the Retry button for another attempt.

You got a perfect score. Great job!