Two-step word problems, step by step
A two-step problem is where word problems get genuinely hard.
How many tomatoes does Nadia have now?
- Read it through and count the QUESTIONS, not the numbers. There are two here, and only one of them is asked out loud — the number you were asked for cannot be reached from the story in one go, so something has to be worked out first.
- Every number here is used, which will not always be true — a story may mention something true that the question never asks about. Check what the question needs rather than collecting what the text offers.
- The first thing that CAN be worked out is 27 and 6, by adding: 27 + 6 = 33. That 33 is not the answer — it is the number the story never gave you.
- Now the second step, and its first number is the 33 you just worked out rather than anything written in the story. Take away the 10: 33 − 10 = 23.
- Two steps, and the answer to the question that was asked — "How many tomatoes does Nadia have now?" — is 23 tomatoes.
How it works.
- 01
Read it through and count the QUESTIONS, not the numbers. There are two here, and only one of them is asked out loud — the number you were asked for cannot be reached from the story in one go, so something has to be worked out first.
- 02
Every number here is used, which will not always be true — a story may mention something true that the question never asks about. Check what the question needs rather than collecting what the text offers.
- 03
The first thing that CAN be worked out is 27 and 6, by adding: 27 + 6 = 33. That 33 is not the answer — it is the number the story never gave you.
- 04
Now the second step, and its first number is the 33 you just worked out rather than anything written in the story. Take away the 10: 33 − 10 = 23.
- 05
Two steps, and the answer to the question that was asked — "How many tomatoes does Nadia have now?" — is 23 tomatoes.