501 Math Word Problems

Answer Explanations

1. d. Work backwards to find the solution. George has 5 cousins, which is

9 fewer than Bonnie has; therefore, Bonnie has 14 cousins. Bonnie has
twice as many cousins as Robert has, so half of 14 is 7. Robert has 7
cousins.
plasma 2 10
2. c. Set up a proportion with DLP : 5 = }x}. Cross multiply and solve: (5)
(10) = 2x. Divide both sides by 2: }52}0 = }22}x ; x = 25 DLP televisions.

3. b. To earn an average of 93 on four tests, the sum of those four scores must
be (93)(4), or 372. The sum of the first three scores is 85 + 92 + 95 =
272. The difference between the needed sum of the four scores and the
sum of the first three scores is 100. Justin needs a 100 to earn a 93 aver-
age overall.

4. c. To find the number of boxes needed, you should divide the number of
books by 30 books per box; 270 ÷ 30 = 9 boxes.

5. d. From 10 a.m. Friday to 10 a.m. Saturday is 24 hours. Then, from 10

a.m. Saturday to 6 p.m. Saturday is another 8 hours. Together, that
makes 32 hours.

6. b. Set up a proportion with dollar 1 x

yen : 105 = 945 . Cross multiply and solve:
945 105x
945 = 105x. Divide both sides by 105: 105 = 105 ; x = 9 dollars.

7. a. Multiply the number of miles (11) by the amount pledged per mile
($0.85): 11 × $0.85 = $9.35. To multiply decimals, multiply normally,
then count the number of decimal places in the problem and move the
decimal point of the answer that many places to the left.

pumpkin 2 cups 8 cups

8. a. Set up a proportion with cakes : 1 cake = x cakes . Cross multiply and
solve: 8 = 2x. Divide both sides by 2: 8 = 2x ; x = 4 cakes.
2 2

9. c. Mr. Brown can plow 6 acres in an hour, so divide the number of acres to
plow (21) by 6 to find the number of hours needed: 21 ÷ 6 = 3.5 hours.

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 501 Math Word Problems

10. b. First, determine the number of years between 2003 and 2011 by sub-
tracting: 2011 − 2003 = 8. There are two 4-year periods in 8 years. The
price after the first 4-year period, in 2007, is 2 × $1.50 = $3.00. Then, it
doubles again in 2011 to reach a price of 2 × $3.00 = $6.00.

11. c. Each time the cardboard is folded in half, the thickness doubles. The
cardboard is folded in half three times. The first time it is folded in half,
the thickness becomes 2 × (2 mm) = 4 mm. The second time it is folded
in half, the thickness becomes 2 × (4 mm) = 8 mm. Finally, folding it in
half the third and final time yields a thickness of 2 × (8 mm) = 16 mm.

12. b. Visualize a number line. The distance from −8 to 0 is 8. Then, the dis-
tance from 0 to 63 is 63. Add the two distances together to get 71:
63 + 8 = 71. Alternatively, compute the difference 63 – (−8) = 73.

13. d. Exceeded means “gone above.” Therefore, if they exceeded their goal of
$9,500 by $2,100, then they went over their goal by $2,100: $9,500 +
$2,100 = $11,600. If you chose a, you subtracted $2,100 from $9,500
instead of adding the two numbers.

14. a. Subtract Mt. Kilimanjaro’s height from Mt. Everest’s height: 29,028
− 19,340 = 9,688. If you chose b, you did not borrow correctly when
subtracting.

15. a. To find the area of a square, you multiply the length of one side by itself
because all the sides are the same length. What number multiplied by
itself is 36? 6 × 6 = 36.

16. d. Since we are told that they both used a whole number of gallons of gas,
the smallest distance between their house and the theater is the least
common multiple (LCM) of 21 and 30; this is the smallest whole number
into which both 21 and 30 divide evenly. The LCM of 21 and 30 is 210.
So, the shortest possible distance between their house and the theater is
210 miles.

17. c. Divide the money raised by three to find the amount that each charity
will receive: $1,569 ÷ 3 = $523.00.

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 501 Math Word Problems

18. d. Find the number of points scored on two-point baskets by multiplying

2 × 9; 18 points were scored on two-point baskets. Find the number of
points scored on three-point baskets by multiplying 3 × 3; 9 points were
scored on three-point baskets. The total number of points scored is the
sum of these two totals: 18 + 9 = 27.

19. a. From 2:15 p.m. to 4:15 p.m. is 2 hours. Then, from 4:15 p.m. to 4:45
p.m. is another half hour. This is a total of 2.5 hours.

20. b. There is a 1 in 6 chance of rolling a 3 because there are 6 possible out-

comes on a die, but only 1 outcome is a 3.

21. a. Find the rate at which Susan is traveling by dividing her distance
by time: 114 miles ÷ 2 hours = 57 mph. To find out how long it
will take her to travel 285 miles, divide this distance by her rate:
285 miles ÷ 57 mph = 5 hours.

22. d. Divide the miles by the time to find the average speed: 3,010 ÷ 5 = 602 mph.

23. c. He spent $54 on pants (3 × $18 = $54) and $120 on shirts (5 × $24 =
$120). Altogether he spent $174 ($54 + $120 = $174). If you chose a,
you calculated the cost of one pair of pants plus one shirt instead of three
pants and five shirts.

24. b. There are 100 cm in one meter. A square meter is 100 cm by 100 cm.
The area of this is 10,000 sq cm (100 × 100 = 10,000).

25. a. There are 36 inches in a yard: 5 × 36 = 180 inches. There are 180 inches
in 5 yards.

26. c. To find the number of hours needed to burn 1,250 calories, divide 1,250
by 500: 1,125 ÷ 500 = 2.25 hours.

27. b. Visualize a number line. The drop from 31° to 0° is 31°. There are still 9
more degrees to drop. This causes the temperature to drop below zero.
−
9 °F is the temperature at midnight.

28. a. Divide the total sales ($1,260) by the number of tickets sold (210) to
find the cost per ticket: $1,260 ÷ 210 = $6.00.

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 501 Math Word Problems

1
29. c. A 10 second count is 6 of a minute. To find the number of beats per
minute, multiply the beat in 10 seconds by 6: 11 × 6 = 66 beats per
minute.
30. c. The probability of getting heads does not change based on the results of
previous flips because each flip is an independent event. Therefore, the
probability of getting heads is 12 .

31. b. To find the median, first put the numbers in order from least to greatest:
56, 72, 87, 89, 93. The middle number is the median. 87 is in the middle
of the list, so it is the median. If you chose a, you forgot to put the num-
bers in ascending order before finding the middle number.

32. a. A negative integer describes a loss, and a positive integer describes a

gain. Using this, the gambler’s net gain or loss is computed using the
following sum: −$550 + $875 + $430 + −$1,000 = −$245.

33. d. Find the total number of slices by multiplying 3 by 8: 3 × 8 = 24. There

are 24 slices to be shared among 12 coworkers. Divide the number of
slices by the number of people to find the number of slices per person:
24 ÷ 12 = 2 slices per person.

34. a. Divide the number of people by the number that fit on one bus:
136 ÷ 51 = 2.667. They need more than 2 buses, but not quite 3.
Since they can’t order part of a bus, they will need to order 3 buses.

35. c. A negative integer describes a loss, and a positive integer describes a

gain. Using this, the net gain or loss in the stock’s price is computed
using the following sum: 12 + −8 + 1 + −6 + 5 = 4. So, the net gain in
the stock’s price is 4 points.

36. b. Lance has 70 cents. Margaret has three-fourths of a dollar, which is 75

cents. Guy has 60 cents (25 + 25 + 10 = 60). Bill has 60 cents
(6 × 10 = 60). So, Margaret has the most money.

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 501 Math Word Problems

37. b. Finding what 100 students would say is the same as finding the percent,
because percent means “out of 100.” To find the percent, divide the num-
ber of students who said a dog was their favorite (258) by the total num-
ber of students surveyed (430): 258 ÷ 430 = 0.6. Change 0.6 to a percent
by moving the decimal two places to the right: 60%. This means that 60
out of 100 students would say that a dog is their favorite type of pet.

38. c. Divide the bill by 5: $53.75 ÷ 5 = $10.75. They should each pay $10.75.

39. d. Find how much the computer depreciates over one year by dividing the
cost by 5: $2,400 ÷ 5 = $480. Multiply this by 2 for two years: $480 × 2 =
$960. The computer will have depreciated $960 after 2 years.

40. c. First, a single tray can hold 5 × 11 = 55 bagels. Since a cart can hold 9
trays, the total number of bagels that can be cooled if a single cart is
filled to capacity is 9 × 55 = 495 bagels. Since there are 3 carts that can
be used, the largest number of bagels that can be cooled if all three carts
are filled to capacity is 3 × 495 = 1,485 bagels.

41. b. Find the total number of people and the total number of cars. Then,
divide the total people by the total cars.
People: 57 × 4 = 228
61 × 2 = 122
9×1= 9
5×5= 25
TOTAL 384 people
Cars: 57 + 61 + 9 + 5 = 132 cars
384 ÷ 132 = 2.9, which is rounded up to 3 people because 2.9 is closer to
3 than it is to 2.

42. c. Find the number of gallons dispensed per second by dividing 750 by 50
(750 ÷ 50 = 15 gallons per second). Divide 360 gallons by 15 to find how
many seconds it will take (360 ÷ 15 = 24 seconds). It will take 24 seconds.

43. c. Divide 405 blinks by 45 blinks per minute to get 9 minutes.

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 501 Math Word Problems

44. c. Find the probability of each event separately, and then multiply the
answers because they are independent outcomes. The probability of
1 1
rolling a 3 is 6 , and the probability of tossing a tail is 2 . To find the
1 1 1
probability of both of them happening, multiply 6 × 2 = 12 .
1
The probability is . Alternatively, list all of the possible outcomes in
12
the form of an ordered pair (die, coin):
(1, H), (2, H), (3, H), (4, H), (5, H), (6, H)
(1, T), (2, T), (3, T), (4, T), (5, T), (6, T)

45. c. Multiply the number of choices for each item to find the number of
outfits: 5 × 7 = 35. There are 35 possible outfit combinations.

46. c. There are 12 inches in a foot. Divide 150 by 12 to find the number of
feet: 150 ÷ 12 = 12.5 feet.

47. a. One cup is 8 ounces, so half a cup is 4 ounces. Multiply 15 by 4 ounces

to find the number of ounces needed: 15 × 4 = 60 ounces.

48. c. There are 16 ounces in a pound. If Justin gains 8 ounces, his weight will
be 8 pounds and 20 ounces. 20 ounces is 1 pound and 4 ounces, so add
this to the 8 pounds to get 9 lbs and 4 oz.

49. c. Divide the width (85 cm) by 2.54 to find the number of inches: 85 ÷
2.54 = 33.46 inches. The question says to round to the nearest tenth
(one decimal place), which would be 33.5 inches.

blue
50. b. The probability of choosing a blue marble is } al . The number of blue
tot}
marbles is 6, and the total number of marbles is 16 (3 + 6 + 5 + 2 = 16).
Therefore, the probability of choosing a blue marble is 166
= 38 .

51. c. First, arrange the numbers in order from least to greatest, and then find
the middle of the set.
2, 2, 3, 3, 4, 4, 5, 6, 6, 8
The middle is the average (mean) of the 5th and 6th data items. The
mean of 4 and 4 is 4.

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 501 Math Word Problems

52. d. A chart like the one below can be used to determine which days Max
and Ellen go to the gym. The first day after Monday that they both go
Saturday.
ay
tod
S M Tu W Th F S
Week 1 M,E E M
Week 2 E M E M,E

next day they

are both at
the gym

53. a. 200 − 300 = −100 points

54. b. First, determine the total number of minutes Nicole spends exercising:
. (60 × 4) + (45 × 3) + (90 × 2) + (75 × 2) = 705 minutes
{
{
{
{

jogging lifting weights Zumba raquetball

Now, convert this to hours and minutes using long division. Since there
are 60 minutes in one hour, divide 705 by 60 to get 11 with remainder
45. So, she spends 11 hours 45 minutes exercising each week.

55. a. Thirteen games are accounted for with the losses and ties (11 ÷ 2 = 13).
The remainder of the 25 games were won. Subtract to find the number
of games won: 25 − 13 = 12 games won.

56. a. The smallest number of songs would occur if each of the 24 CDs had
only 9 songs on it; this would yield 9 × 24 = 216 songs. The largest
number of songs would occur if each of the 24 CDs had 15 songs on it;
this would yield 15 × 24 = 360 songs. So, the total number of songs that
Nancy has in her collection is between 216 and 360, inclusive.

57. d. Each number is divided by 2 to find the next number: 40 ÷ 2 = 20.

Twenty is the next number.

58. d. Determine the total cost of all of the items Greg bought by multiplying
the cost of each item by the number of that item that was purchased:
]3 # $9.00g + ]2 # $3.00g + ]1 # $2.00g = $27.00 + $6.00 + $2.00 = $35.00
Now, subtract this total from $50.00 to determine the change Greg is
due: $50.00 − $35.00 = $15.00.

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 501 Math Word Problems

59. b. The correct order of operations must be used here. PEMDAS tells you
that you should do the operations in the following order:
Parentheses, Exponents, Multiplication and Division (left to right),
Addition and Subtraction (left to right).
9 − 22 = 9 − 4 = 5
a is (1 + 2)2 = (3)2 = 9
c is 11 − 10 × 5 = 11 − 50 = −39
d is 45 ÷ 3 × 3 = 15 × 3 = 45

60. d. See the diagram below. The bus is 4 blocks east of the hotel.

Hotel End

4 blocks east

61. b. Divide $350 by $25 per week: 350 ÷ 25 = 14 weeks.

62. b. Multiply $115 by 12 because there are 12 months in a year:

$115 × 12 = $1,380 per year.

63. a. Use a proportion comparing boys to girls at the dance.

boys 3
}
gir}
ls = 4 = }6x}0

Solve the proportion by cross-multiplying, setting the cross-products

equal to each other, and solving as shown below.

(3)(60) = 4x
180 = 4x
180 4x
}4} = }4}
45 = x

There were 45 boys at the dance.

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