section 2-WHOLE NUMBER WORD PROBLEMS

ADDITION

Now that you're proficient at whole number arithmetic it's time to practice your new skills with some true-to-life examples. Just as we did on the previous section, we'll start with addition.

Whenever you see the words total or sum, you should realize that you're about to do some adding.

Okay, what are you going to total? Anything! You could total money, time, calories, or any other unit of measurement. Here are three examples that use addition.

Example 1

If you go shopping and spend $3 on fruit, $5 on meat, and $2 on soda, your total bill will come to $3 + $5 + $2 bringing your grand total to $10. (It will actually be more than that once you include sales tax, but we'll get into that in future lessons in the percent unit.)

Example 2 If you're on a diet and have a breakfast consisting of 150 calories, a lunch consisting of 350 calories, and a dinner consisting of 1000 calories, then the sum of the calories consumed that day is 150 + 350 + 1000 = 1500 calories.

xxxxx Other keywords indicating addition are "how long" and "how many." xxxxx

Example 3 Let's say you're currently enrolled in three classes. On a given day you spend 35 minutes in the first class, 45 minutes in a second class, and 30 minutes in a third class. How long did you spend in class?

The amount of time that you spent in class that day is 35 + 45 + 30 or 110 minutes.

Now it's time for you to try your hand at addition word problems. To see a word problem, click on the "generate an additon word problem" button.

Work out the problem and place your answer in the text box. Then click the "check my answer" button. The computer will then tell you whether or not your answer was correct. You will get additional instructions if your answer was incorrect.

After you complete the problem you can generate another word problem by clicking the "reset" button and then clicking the "generate an addition word problem" button once again. Continue as many times as you wish, and then:

All text, images, and source code c2003 Martin Selditch.