Question

Fill in the blanks!
A class of 17 students will work on a writing project. Each student will write 13 short stories for a book. How many short stories will the class write in all?
13 x 17
Estimate.
10 x 20 = _
Use the breakup strategy.
13 x 17 = (10+3) x (_+7)
(10x10) + (10x_) + (3x10) + (3x7)
100 + 70 + _ + 21
221 stories

Answer 1

Let's fill in the blanks and provide the calculations step by step.

1. **Calculate the total number of short stories:**
- Each student writes 13 stories, and there are 17 students:
\[
13 \times 17
\]

2. **Estimate:**
- Round 13 to 10 and 17 to 20 for estimation:
\[
10 \times 20 = 200
\]

3. **Use the breakup strategy:**
- Break 13 into (10 + 3) and 17 into (10 + 7):
\[
13 \times 17 = (10 + 3) \times (10 + 7)
\]

4. **Apply the distributive property:**
\[
(10 \times 10) + (10 \times 7) + (3 \times 10) + (3 \times 7)
\]

- Now calculate each term:
\[
10 \times 10 = 100
\]
\[
10 \times 7 = 70
\]
\[
3 \times 10 = 30
\]
\[
3 \times 7 = 21
\]

5. **Add all the products together:**
\[
100 + 70 + 30 + 21
\]
\[
= 221
\]

So the completed text is:

A class of 17 students will work on a writing project. Each student will write 13 short stories for a book. How many short stories will the class write in all?
13 x 17
Estimate.
10 x 20 = **200**
Use the breakup strategy.
13 x 17 = (10+3) x (10+7)
(10x10) + (10x7) + (3x10) + (3x7)
100 + 70 + **30** + 21
**221** stories.