4th Grade Word Problem

Question

Ms. Erive Has a basket of grapes.  If she gives 6 grapes to each of her student, she will have 2 grapes left. 

If she gives 7 grapes to each of her students, she wil have to buy 11 more grapes. 

How many students does Ms. Ervine have? 

How Many grapes are in the basket?

Answer 1

She has 80 grapes and 13 students. Here's why:

 

The first sentence forms the equation 6s + 2 (s = number of students, the plus 2 is the extra grapes)

 

The second sentence forms the equation 7s - 11 (s is still the number of students, 11 = the "missing" grapes)

 

Set them up as equals: 6s + 2 = 7s - 11

 

subtract the 6s from both sides, and add 11 to both sides, and you get 13 = s (that's 13 students)

 

Then plug 13 into both scenarios in the word problem:

 

13 x 6 = 78, plus 2 = 80

13 x 7 = 91, minus 11 = 80.

 

So it checks out!

 

Matt in NY