ASVAB - Walk Through Typical Word Problems - 1

ASVAB - Try Out Some Typical Word Problems

Part 1

Looking at Some Typical Word Problems

Certain types of questions seem to pop up more often than others. This is true whether you’re taking the SAT or the Arithmetic Reasoning subtest of the ASVAB. So let's look at some of these types of problems.

AGE PROBLEMS

Age problems involve figuring out how old someone is, was, or will be at some time in the future. You generally do this by comparing their ages to the ages of other people.

Problem: Sid is twice as old as Mary. In three years, the sum of their ages will be 66. How old are they now?

Well, one of their ages needs to be 'x'. (tell me on the next slide)

Multiple Choice

Problem: Sid is twice as old as Mary. In three years, the sum of their ages will be 66. How old are they now?

Whose age should we assign as 'x'?

• Sid

• Mary

AGE PROBLEMS

• Problem: Sid is twice as old as Mary. In three years, the sum of their ages will be 66. How old are they now?

• Maybe thinking of an actual age will help. Like if Mary is 10, Sid is 20. How did you figure out Sid was 20? Well, you multiply Mary's age by 2.

• Since we did the math TO Mary's age she should be 'x'.

• So Mary's Age = x

• And Sid's Age = 2x

AGE PROBLEMS

• Problem: Sid is twice as old as Mary. In three years, the sum of their ages will be 66. How old are they now?

• The key information for this is 'In three years' and 'the sum'

• So Mary's Age in three years = x + 3

• And Sid's Age in three years = 2x + 3

• So the sum of their ages in three years is 66.

• Mary's Age in three years + Sid's Age in three years = 66

• OR: x + 3 + 2x + 3 = 66

Fill in the Blanks

Problem: Sid is twice as old as Mary. In three years, the sum of their ages will be 66. How old are they now?

How old is Mary'?

Fill in the Blanks

Problem: Sid is twice as old as Mary. In three years, the sum of their ages will be 66. How old are they now?

How old is Sid'?

GEOMETRIC PROBLEMS

• These problems require you to compute the volume, perimeter, area, circumference, diameter, and so on of various geometric shapes.

• Problem: You’re painting a fence that is 20 feet long and 6 feet high. Paint cost $7.23 per gallon, and 1 gallon of paint will cover 60 square feet of fence. How much will you need to spend on paint to complete the project? 

• This problem will require a number of steps.

Multiple Choice

You’re painting a fence that is 20 feet long and 6 feet high. Paint cost $7.23 per gallon, and 1 gallon of paint will cover 60 square feet of fence. How much will you need to spend on paint to complete the project?

To find how much fence we have to paint we need to find the ______?

• area

• perimeter

• volume

• diameter

• circumference

GEOMETRIC PROBLEMS

• Problem: You’re painting a fence that is 20 feet long and 6 feet high. Paint cost $7.23 per gallon, and 1 gallon of paint will cover 60 square feet of fence. How much will you need to spend on paint to complete the project? 

• We have to find the AREA.

• Area = length x width

• Area = 20 x 6

Multiple Choice

You’re painting a fence that is 20 feet long and 6 feet high. Paint cost $7.23 per gallon, and 1 gallon of paint will cover 60 square feet of fence. How much will you need to spend on paint to complete the project?

What is the area we need to paint?

• 120 square feet

• 26 square feet

• 3.3 square feet

• 80 square feet

Multiple Choice

You’re painting a fence that is 20 feet long and 6 feet high. Paint cost $7.23 per gallon, and 1 gallon of paint will cover 60 square feet of fence. How much will you need to spend on paint to complete the project?

Given we know the area, how many gallons of paint do we need?

• 1 gallon

• 2 gallons

• 6 gallons

• 3 gallons

Multiple Choice

You’re painting a fence that is 20 feet long and 6 feet high. Paint cost $7.23 per gallon, and 1 gallon of paint will cover 60 square feet of fence. How much will you need to spend on paint to complete the project?

• $7.23

• $14.46

• $43.38

• $21.69

Now here are some problems to try.

And maby a video or two to help you.

Enjoy.

Multiple Choice

Tiana is three times as old as her son. In 12 years, Tiana’s age will be one year less than twice her son’s age. How old is Tiana now?

• 30

• 33

• 24

• 36

Multiple Choice

Bill is twice as old as his sister Jane. The sum of their age is 24. How old is Bill?

• 24

• 16

• 12

• 8

Multiple Choice

The length of a rectangle is 3 m more than 5 times the width. The perimeter is 126 m.

What is the width?

• 53 m

• 120 m

• 10 m

• 10.5 m

• 20.5 m

Multiple Choice

The length of a rectangle is 3 m more than 5 times the width. The perimeter is 126 m.

What is the length?

• 53 m

• 120 m

• 34.5 m

• 10.5 m

• 20.5 m

Multiple Choice

The length of a rectangle is 3 m more than 5 times the width. The perimeter is 126 m.

Find the area.

• $330.75\ m^2$

  
  

• $500\ m^2$
  

• $63\ m^2$
  

• $530\ m^2$

Multiple Choice

A triangle has a perimeter of 50. If 2 of its sides are equal and the third side is 5 more than the equal sides, what is the length of the third side?

• 10

• 45

• 15

• 20

• 30