Please help me with this math?!?

Question

Below is Brianna’s daily schedule. For each activity, identify the elapsed time from its beginning to its end. Be sure to show your work. Finally, explain why your answer is correct.

  

Schoolwork: 7:35 a.m. until 11:15 a.m. 

 

Lunch and Piano Practice: 11:15 a.m. until 12:50 p.m.

 

Schoolwork: 12:50 p.m. until 4:05 p.m.

 

Time with friends: 4:05 p.m. until 5:45 p.m.

 

Dinner: 5:45 p.m. until 6:10 p.m.

 

I really get confused after I write the time in words. After I do that I have no clue at all about what to do. I even tried to watch a brain pop movie about it. But its confusing. Please help.

Answer 1

Hi Taryn--

 

Another helpful strategy for this is to do some rounding and adjusting:

 

For example, with 7:35 to 11:15, start by rounding each to the nearest sensible landing spot. Let's go with

 

7:30 and 11:30. If you subtract 11:30 - 7:30, you get 4 hours, BUT since you started a bit later, and ended a bit earlier, your answer will be a little less than 4 hours.

 

from :30 to :35 is 5 minutes, so subtract that. And from :15 to :30 is 15 minutes, so subtract that too.

 

So you have 4 hours, minus 5 minutes, minus 15 minutes, or 4 hours minus 20 minutes, which leaves you with...

 

3 hours 40 minutes.

 

You might have problems where's it's a little MORE than a whole number of hours, and you can round the same way and then ADD the extra bits of minutes.

 

I have a question for you: I've found that not all kids your age have learned how to tell time on an old-fashioned "face" clock.

 

Do you know how? If yes, the BEST way to do these problems is to draw yourself a big ol' clock, and take 2 pencils or popsicle sticks to use as hands you can move around. Visualizing and moving makes these problems much, much easier!

 

Have fun,

 

Matt in New York

Answer 2

schoolwork: 7:35-11:15

7:35-10:35=3 hours

10:35-11:00=25 minutes

11:00-11:15=15 minutes

total time=3 hours 40 minutes

 

lunch and piano practice: 11:15-12:50

11:15-12:15=1 hour

12:15-12:45=30 minutes

12:45-12:50=5 minutes

total time=1 hour 35 minutes

 

schoolwork:12:50-4:05

12:50-1:00=10 minutes

1:00-4:00=3 hours

4:00=4:05=5 minutes

total time=3 hours 15 minutes

 

time with friends: 4:05-5:45

4:05-5:05=1 hour

5:05-5:45=40 minutes

total time= 1 hour 40 minutes

 

dinner: 5:45-6:10

5:45-6:00=15 minutes

6:00-6:10=10 minutes

total time=25 minutes

 

add the total times

3 hours 40 minutes

1 hour 35 minutes

3 hours 15 minutes

1 hour 40 minutes

0 hours 25 minutes

8 hours 155 minutes

8 hours+2 hours(120 minutes)+35 minutes

10 hours 35 minutes

 

7:35 a.m.-6:10 p.m.=

7:35 a.m.-5:35 a.m.=10 hours

5:35-6:00=25 minutes

6:00-6:10=10 minutes

total time=10 hours 35 minutes

 

Answer 3

So it looks like you are being asked to determine how much time is spent on each activity. For example, for Schoolwork, she starts at 7:35 and stops at 11:15, so that is 3 hours and 40 minutes.