How to write it out in Expression with parentheses

Question

Challenge:  Allison buys 16 treats for her pet bird and 8 treats for her fish.  Hansen buys 6 treats for his pet cat and 14 treats are packd in each of 4 containers.  How many more treats does Allison pack in each container than Hansen?  Explain

Answer 1

(16+8) - (6+14)

 

4

 

It isn't asking for anything complicated in this one, lucky you!

 

So all you need to need to look at is:

 

Allison: 16 +8

 

Hansen: 6+14

 

The rest of the info is there just to confuse you and see how close of attention you are paying. Some will disagree with me on this but lets be serious.

 

So it wants to know how many MORE Allison has then Hansen

 

Add 16+8 which equals: 24   -- this is how many treats Allison bought

Add 6+14 which equals: 20 -- this is how many treats Hansen bought

 

Now just subtract: 24-20 = 4

 

Allison has 4 MORE treats total then Hansen

 

Answer 2

Chris, you are absolutely correct. It is a very poorly written question. The question doesn't tell you how many each person would pack, just how many each purchases. You could do a fractional portion of each: 16+8/44 = 24/44 for allison and 6/44 for hanson, but the question doesn't say how they are packed (distributed) into the containers, nor does it even say that the 14 belongs to Hansen or Allison. As such, vital information is missing from the problem, and one can't assume they want it in equal portions either. 

Answer 3

This questions seems to be missing information that would allow us to solve it. We know the quantities purchased by both Allison and Hansen. We know that some treats are packed in some containers but it is unclear if these are Hansen's or perhaps how the come from the store. What we need to know is how many treats each person packs. That is not known. And, if we did know how many were packed by each person we still would not know how they distributed them in the containers, assuming that is what the question is getting at. Is there any more context for this question?

Chris

Answer 4

If we assume that treats are divided equally among containers then Allison packed 24÷4=6 treats in each container and Hansen packed 20÷4=5 treats in each container. Therefore Allison packed 6-5=1 more treat in each container than Hansen.