Story Problems Addition or Subtraction

Story Problems Addition or Subtraction

by Heidi Ward

​Do I add or do I subtract?

​You must first read the story problem correctly.

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​Then you should try to visualize what is happening in the story.

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Next, think, is what is happening in the story causing the numbers to get larger or smaller.

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​Finally-decide what information you need to solve the problem and deterimine which operation to use.

​Look at this example.

First-read the problem carefully.​

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The treasure chest contains pearls! There are 1,356 white pearls and 562 black pearls. How many pearls are there altogether?

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​Visualize what is happening.

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​Now think, will the numbers get larger or smaller?

​What did you decide?

• ​The treasure chest had white pearls and black pearls.

• ​The question ask, "how many pearls are there all together."

• ​That means I am taking the number of white pearls and combining it with the number of black pearls. That means my number should get larger.

• ​I should add to solve this problem.

​Look at another example

​First read the problem carefully.

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​There are 3,420 students at Oak Tree Elementary School. 1,911 students are girls. How many are boys?

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​Visualize what is happening.

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​Now think, do I need a bigger number or a smaller number?

​What did you decide?

• ​There are a total of 3,420 students. There are 1,911 girls.

• ​The question ask, "how many are boys."

• ​I started with the total number of students. That would be the boys and girls combined. That number is 3,420. If I need to find out how many are boys, I will need a smaller number than the total of both boys and girls.

• ​That means I need to subtract to solve.

Now it is your turn to try.​

Decide if you should add or subtract to solve the following problems.​

Multiple Choice

There are 1,293 4th graders at Oak Tree Elementary School. On Monday,134 of them were absent. How many 4th graders were in school on Monday?

• Add

• Subtract

Multiple Choice

A farmer was planting vegetables in a garden. He planted 623 corn seeds, 519 turnip seeds and 831 potato seeds. How many seeds did he plant total?

• Add

• Subtract

Multiple Choice

A waiter had fifty-seven customers. If twenty-three left, how many customers would the waiter still have?

• Add

• Subtract

Multiple Choice

Breeze wants to make ____ paper airplanes to sell. If he has already made ____ airplanes, how many more does he need to make?

• Add

• Subtract

​Numberless Word Problem

​The previous problem was a numberless word problem.

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​Did not having the numbers make it easier or harder to decide what operation you needed to solve?

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​Did you still think about what was happening? Did you visualize it? Did you decide if the number should be getting larger or smaller?

Multiple Choice

East Elementary has ____ fourth grade students and ____ fifth grade students. How many fourth and fifth grade students attend East Elementary?

• Add

• Subtract

Multiple Choice

While building a house, an architect used 956 nails on the first floor, 351 on the second and 515 on the third floor. How many nails did he use on all three floors?

• Add

• Subtract

Poll

How do you feel about solving story problems?

• Great

• Ok

• Bad