Skill: Solve simple algebraic word problems

A word problem tells you about quantities and how they are related. To solve it:

1. Find what is unknown.
2. Decide whether the problem describes equal groups, joining, separating, or comparing.
3. Write an equation.
4. Use the operation that finds the unknown.
5. Check your answer in the original story.

Example

Maya has 24 stickers. She puts 6 stickers on each page. How many pages does she fill?

Step 1: Identify the known and unknown amounts

• Total stickers: $24$
• Stickers on each page: $6$
• Number of pages: unknown

There are equal groups of $6$. We can think of the total as:

$$6 + 6 + 6 + \cdots = 24$$

Step 2: Write an equation

Let $p$ represent the number of pages.

$$6 \times p = 24$$

The equation says that $6$ stickers on each page, multiplied by the number of pages, equals $24$ stickers altogether.

Step 3: Solve

Ask: “How many groups of $6$ are in $24$?”

$$24 \div 6 = 4$$

So,

$$p = 4$$

Step 4: Check

If Maya fills $4$ pages with $6$ stickers on each page:

$$6 \times 4 = 24$$

The check matches the total, so Maya fills 4 pages.