Math Word Problems into Expressions

The Eats More Cookies bakery sells bags of 6 cookies. Twenty-eight bags fit into a box. Which expression represents the number of cookies there are in 8 boxes?

• (6 + 28) x 8

• 6 + (28 x 8)

• (6 x 8) - 28

• (6 x 28) x 8

Answer explanation

The bakery has 28 bags in a box with 6 cookies in each bag. To find out how many cookies are in each box, they multiply 28 sets of 6. If they have 6 boxes of these bags of cookies, they would multiply the number of cookies in each box by 6.

Gerardo sells 3 video games for $15 each. He then pays $18 he owes to his sister. Which expression shows how many dollars Lionel has left?

• 3 x (15 - 18)

• 18 - (3 x 15)

• (18 - 3) x 15

• 3 x 15 - 18

Answer explanation

The first thing we need to find out is how much money Gerardo earned selling his video game. To find this, we multiply 3 sets of $15. Since he owes his sister money, he will subtract that money from the money he earned.

A zookeeper feeds 8 tigers and 7 lions every day. Each animal receives 5 pounds of meat per day. Which expression shows how much meat the zookeeper needs to feed all of the animals?

• 8 x 7 x 5

• (8 + 7) x 5

• 8 + 7 x 5

• (8 x 7) + 5

Ally Ruth has 3 times as many Hot Wheels cars as Scott.  If h represents the number of cars Scott has, which expression represents the number of cars Ally Ruth has? 

• h + 3 

• 3 - h 

• 3 / h

• 3h 

Kyle is paid $8.00 an hour, and last week, Kyle earned $160.00. What does the x represent in the equation 8x = 160?

• The number of days Kyle worked last week

• The number of hours Kyle worked last week

• The number of hours Kyle worked over the weekend

• The amount of money Kyle made

Jack packed y boxes with 20 cans of food in each box.  If there were 500 cans of food, which number sentence would be used to find out how many boxes Jack packed? 

• 500 x 20 = y

• y + 20 = 500

• 20 x y = 500

• y - 500 = 20 

Alex sells corn at the farmer's market.  If c represents the amount of corn Alex has, which number sentence could be used to find the amount of corn Alex has left after selling 7 ears of corn? 

• c - 7 = ? 

• c + 7 = ? 

• c x 7 = ? 

• 7 - c = ? 

Miss Williams divides her class into six equal groups of 4 students each.  Which number sentence could be used to find s, the number of students in Miss Williams's class? 

• s x 4 = 6

• s / 4 = 6

• 4 + 6 = s 

• s - 4 = 6 

Elizabeth went running on the Creeper Trail.  Today she ran 1.5 more miles than she did yesterday.  If m represents the miles she ran yesterday, which number sentence can be used to find the number of miles Elizabeth ran today? 

• m - 1.5 = ? 

• m / 1.5 = ? 

• m + 1.5 = ? 

• m x 1.5 = ? 

Belle has 23 ornaments on her tree.  She purchased more ornaments to have a total of 40 ornaments on her tree.  Which equation would best be used to determine how many ornaments were purchased? 

• 40 + t = 23

• 40 - 23 = t 

• 23 + t = 40 

• 23 - t = 40