Question

1. Yesterday Josh sold some boxes of greeting cards. If he sold 25 boxes in all, how many did he sell yesterday?

2. Jana baked some muffins. After she served 13 of them to her friends at brunch, she had 17 left. How many muffins did she make?

3. A scuba diver descends to a depth of -22 meters (below sea level). The ocean floor is at a depth of -71 meters. How much farther would she need to descend to reach the ocean floor?

Thanks in advance! I don't understand how to set up the equations, so any help is appreciated. I'm not good at word problems... :/ But the more I practice, the better I'll get! :D

Answer 1

1. not enough information, nothing to set up

2. let the number of muffins she baked be x
x-13 = 17

3. distance remaining = -71 - (-22)

These problems are such that you don't really need any variables
Just make a statement like I did in #3 and that is your "equation"