Identifying the Operation in Word Problems

There are 33 papers on a table. Ms. Smith puts 25 more papers on the table. How many papers are on the table now?

What operation do I need to solve?

• multiplication

• addition

• division

• subtraction

Litwanya has 54 pieces of Halloween candy. She shared them equally with her 4 friends. How much candy do they each get?

What operation do you need to solve?

• subtraction

• multiplication

• division

• addition

• candy

Lily has 14 grapes. She eats 6 grapes. How many grapes are left?

What operation do you need to solve?

• Multiplication

• subtraction

• division

• addition

21 frogs are at the pet shop. Ms. Kimball buys 4. How many frogs are left in the pond?

What operation do you need t solve?

• multiplication

• division

• subtraction

• addition

The Star Market has 28 bags of oranges. Each bag contains 17 oranges. How many oranges are in the Star Market?

What operation do you need to solve?

• addition

• division

• multiplication

• subtraction

Which equation represents the word problem?Ms Hafferkamp has 15 Magic Treehouse books. Each book has 172 pages.How many pages are there in Ms Hafferkamp collection of books?

• 15 x 172

• 172-15

• 172+15

• 172÷15

Frank bought 32 packs of chewing gum. He shared them with 4 of his friends. How many packs of gum did each friend get?

What operation do you need to solve?

• Addition

• Subtraction

• Multiplication

• Division

What operation can be described by putting two groups into one? 

• add

• subtract

• multiply

• divide

What operation does the word difference mean?

• add

• subtract

• multiply

• divide

Read the story problem and then decide which operation you need to use to solve the problem. 
Abe has to write a story 500 words long. He has already written 231 words. How many more words does Abe need to write? 

• add

• subtract

• multiply

• divide