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What we have covered so far is well and good, but frequently you
have a problems that call for two or more steps. When this happens you're dealing with a problem that could be written using parentheses.
Unfortunately, there are no tricks I can give you that will solve all two (or more) step problems. You simply have to read the problems very carefully, formulate an idea as to which operations (addition, suptraction, multiplication, or division) are needed to solve it, and practice, practice, practice! The more you practice, the easier these problems will become for you.
I'll help you out by showing how I would solve the following four problems
Your gross salary is $48,000 (that's your salary before taxes and other deductions). Out of this, $16,000 is taken out for federal taxes, $6,000 is taken for state taxes, $2,000 is taken for local taxes, $1,000 is taken out for health insurance, and $1,440 is taken as a pension contribution. How much is your net salary (i.e. the money that you actually take home)?
Now we're taking money away from your gross salary, so that indicated subtraction.
But what are we subtracting? Well we're about to subtract all of the deductions. That means adding the deductions and then subtracting that sum from your gross salary.
Thus the problem is:
Now adding the numbers enclosed in the parentheses we get 26440.
So the problem now becomes 48000 - 26440 which equals 21560
The amount of money left after all the deductions is $21,560
After all that, I'm sure you're relieved that there's anything left, and at the same
time wishing that it had been more.
You put $125 aside each month. Your spouse puts $100 aside each month.
Between the two of you, how long will it take to save $2,475?
Well you and your spouse are putting aside ($125 + $100) or $225 each month.
Now the question is asking "how many months it will take for that 225 to reach 2475?"
Well that is a division problem.
2475 / 225 = 11.
Putting this problem all together we could write:
We could conclude that it will take you and your spouse 11 months to save $2,475.
This next problem is very similar to the one above.
Your take home pay is $1450 per month. Out of that $1200 goes towards bills, and whatever is
left is put aside in a rainy day fund. How much will you have in your rainy day fund
after 5 months?
You know that a certain amount is put aside each month, and the problem is asking "how much is there after five months?"
Thats a multiplication question. But how much is put aside each month?
Answer: the difference between 1450 and 1200.
Thus we could write this problem as
1450 - 1200 = 250 and 250 x 5 = 1250.
After five months there will be $1,250 in your rainy day fund.
You just bought a computer for $1,700. After an initial down payment of $260 you agreed to pay the remainder of the balance in monthly payments over the course of a year. How much will each payment be?
A natural place to start is finding out how much you still owe on the computer
after your down payment.
1700 - 260 = 1440.
You still owe $1,440 on the computer.
Now this amount is being divided into 12 payments (a year's worth of payments).
1440 / 12 = 120
Putting this all together we could write:
Conclusion: You will be paying $120 each month for the next year.
To paraphrase what I wrote above "the only way to learn these problems is practice, practice, practice!" So without further ado, it's time for practice.
To see a word problem, click on the "generate a parentheses 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 a parentheses word problem" button once again. Continue as many times as you wish, and then: