Christina B. answered • 03/14/19
Experienced, Positive, and Effective Tutor with an M.Ed.
Hi Theresia,
I know that you posted this a week ago, but I wanted to check in just in case something like this comes up on a future homework, quiz, or test.
Since the books are identical in height, the trick is to figure out what that height is. If I re-write the problem with whole numbers, it might be easier to see.
A stack of 3 identical books is 6 inches high. What is the height of 20 of these books?
You probably did the mental math to see that
6 inches/3 books = 2 inches per book.
Now that we know that each book is 2 inches high, we can multiply that by 20 books.
2 x 20 = 40 inches.
Your daughter's problem would be solved using the same steps. It's just testing word problem solving ability as well as ability to divide numbers with decimals.
Substituting whole numbers for decimals is a strategy that can help some students figure out a problem solving approach to tricky looking word problems. I hope that helps!
