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Word problems are a great challenge for our brains! We need to read the question below very carefully to understand what is being asked of us.
Take a look at this example:
Tom, Sami, Hannah, Alex and Meeta are friends.
Alex is older than Meeta by 3 years.
Tom and Sami are both twice as old as Hannah, whose age amounts to half a dozen.
Meanwhile, Hannah is 4 years younger than Meeta.
Who is the only person with an age that is odd?
To work out the answer to this question, you need to find the ages of all of the friends, one by one. Start with the numbers you have been given. It may be helpful to learn that a dozen means 12 so half a dozen is 6.
| Person | Age |
| Tom | 12 years old |
| Sami | 12 years old |
| Hannah | 6 years old |
| Alex | 13 years old |
| Meeta | 10 years old |
The only age which is an odd number is 13, therefore the answer is Alex.
Let’s try another. Read the words below carefully:
Jack’s father was three times Jack’s age when Jack was 15.
Jack was 15 seven years ago. Jack’s mother is 5 years younger than his father.
How old is Jack’s mother?
First, we need to work out how old Jack’s father was when Jack was 15, so 3 x 15 = 45.
Jack’s father was 45 seven years ago, which makes him 52 now.
If Jack’s mother is 5 years younger than his father, she must be 47.
In this activity, you will need to be a word-problem wizard and solve word problems with a wave of your wand!
Let's get started!
