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Two-step equation word problems worksheets

7.EE.B.4a is the standard where algebra stops being a puzzle and starts being a bill. These free printable worksheets ask how many miles, swims or T-shirts — a number a child can say out loud — and leave the equation where it belongs, in the working.

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Two-step equation word problems
Two-step equation word problems worksheet — px + q = r from a story, free printable with answer key

The answer key prints on a separate page.

What's on this sheet

Three forms, and they are three different equations rather than three wordings of one. A fixed charge plus a rate is px + q = r: a pool that costs something to join and something a swim. A total with an amount taken off it is px − q = r: a print run with a member discount. And a quantity shared out then added to is x/p + q = r: a tank emptied into barrels with more poured into each.

Why this sheet works

The question asks for the quantity, not for the equation — how many swims, not write an equation — which is why the answers are markable and every one is a whole number by construction. The equation still appears, in the answer key, where it is the working rather than the ask.

How this one works

One question off this sheet, worked a step at a time — with a sentence saying what just happened and why.

Two-step equation word problems, step by step

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