Mathematical problem situations may include quantities, units, conditions, and relationships that are necessary, unnecessary, or redundant; the relevant information is the data and constraints that determine the requested quantity. This includes interpreting fractions, decimals, percentages, ratios, rates, and measurements in familiar one- and multistep contexts and organizing them with equations, tables, diagrams, or number lines, without assuming every stated number must be used. This foundation supports later algebraic modeling and proportional reasoning; highly abstract or generalized modeling is not included.
When a math problem gives you several facts, do not assume you must use every number. First, identify:
A school fair has 6 tables. Each table holds 8 bottles of water. Each bottle contains 500 mL of water. The fair lasts 4 hours.
How many bottles of water are on the tables?
The question asks for the number of bottles.
So, the answer should be measured in bottles, not milliliters or hours.
The useful facts are:
These facts tell us how many bottles there are altogether.
The fact that each bottle contains is not needed because we are finding the number of bottles, not the amount of water.
The fact that the fair lasts hours is also not needed.
Multiply the number of tables by the number of bottles on each table:
There are bottles, so the answer is:
The key idea is to use the information connected to the question and leave out numbers that do not help determine the answer.
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