Problem solving- two step problems

Question

good evening tutor,

my daughter have this question but she not quite understand please explain for us.  Thank you very much.

 

question:

Mr. Tran made a list of some items he sells in his store.  He has 5 umbrellas, 2 beach balls, 12 beach chairs, and 9 sunglasses.  There are some beach towels stacked equally on two shelves.  Mr. Tran determined that there are 46 items.  How many beach towels Are on each shelf?  Describe how to solve the proble.

Answer 1

Hi there!

This is a multi-step word problem, so let's first find out what we know:

Mr. Tran has a TOTAL of 46 items on his shelf, and tells us there are 5 umbrellas, 2 beach balls, 12 chairs, 9 sunglasses, and SOME beach towels (which are split equally between 2 shelves... this is important for later!). But, we are not told how many beach towels Mr. Tran has, and we need the number of beach towels in order to split them between the 2 shelves!

Let's make our plan-- Ask yourself: "What is the problem asking me to solve for?/What is this problem asking me to do?" (it helps if you read the problem a few times and act it out or draw a picture!)

Step 1: Solve to find how many items we are told we have

ADD up all the items Mr. Tran listed: 5 + 2 + 12 + 9 = 28 items (not including the beach towels)

Step 2: Solve to find how many beach towels we have

We are given the TOTAL number of items= 46, and we just found that Mr. Tran has 28 items (not including the beach towels) so we can SUBTRACT the 28 items from our total of 46:

46 - 28 = 18 beach towels

Step 3: Split the Beach Towels Equally

DIVIDE the number of beach towels between the 2 shelves: 18 ÷ 2 = 9 towels on each shelf

Answer: Mr. Tran has 9 beach towels on each shelf!

I hope this helps! :)

Answer 2

Hey Michelle,

 

 

Given  5   -umbrellas 

          12 - chairs

          2   -balls

          9   - sunglasses 

 

If you add up all  5+12+2+9 = 28 

 

Mr. Tran has has total of 46 items .. so  the remaining items would be towels. so you will get remaining when you subtract from the total items .  46-28 = 18 

 

He stacked equally on two shelves . so  if you divide with 2 you will get  9 towels in each shelve.

 

 

 

Hope this helps

 

 

-Naidu