hello and welcome to problem solving strategies number one
sometimes a word problem will ask you to multiply without using the word multiply
how will you know just like with addition and subtraction there will be
clues in the word problem that will tell you you need to multiply those words are
product times each twice factor same double these words all mean the same
thing as multiply and they are clues that you will need to multiply to solve
the problem let's look at an example where the word problem asks you to
multiply without using the word multiply here is a word problem there are four
pencils on the desk mark doubles the number of pencils how
many pencils are there now how will we solve this problem you got it let's look
for clues or key words we know that there are four pencils on the desk mark
comes along and doubles the number of pencils the question asks how many
pencils are there now what is the clue word this time it's not in the question
it's actually within the problem do you see a clue that tells us what we'll need
to do to solve this problem let's look at our clue words list do you see a word
from the list in our problem yes double double means the same as twice or
two times the same number now we could add the two numbers together to
get the same answer or we could multiply for example double four means four plus
four which equals eight a shortcut is 4 times 2 because 2 stands for double the
answer is the same it's 8 sometimes a word problem will ask you to divide
without using the word divide how you know you
it just like with addition subtraction and multiplication there will be clues
in the word problem that tell you you need to divide those words are share
each quotient every half dividend same group equally these words all mean the
same as divided and they are clues that you will need to divide to solve the
problem let's look at an example where the word problem asks you to divide
without using the word divide here is a word problem there are eight pencils on
the desk Julia decides to share the pencils with
her three friends how many pencils will each person including Julia receive how
will we solve this problem yes you know by now that we need to look for clues or
key words we know that there are eight pencils on the desk we also know that
Julia has three friends she wants to share the pencils with if she is sharing
it means that she is also part of the group the question asks how many pencils
will each person receive the group includes Julia if Julia has three
friends and she is in the group that means there are four people receiving
pencils right what clue tells us what to do next which word from the division
clue words do you see in this problem share yes you got it share means that we
need to divide because each person will receive the same amount of pencils
that's only fair right eight pencils shared among four people equals two
pencils each it's a good idea to keep these clue or key words handy when you
need to solve word problems and there you have it looking for clues within a
word problem is not as difficult as it may seem ask yourself if the question is
asking you to add subtract multiply or divide be careful sometimes word
problems asks you to solve things using more than one operation practice the
strategy in our word problem games and keep the clue word chart nearby as a
guide thanks for watching and always remember to be clever