Common Core Word Problem -4th Grade Math

I wanted to share with you a typical Common Core multi-step word problem that I had the pleasure of solving.   If you have encountered such a word problem as a parent working with your child and found difficulty in the past, I hope my explanation will help you.

Here is the Common Core Math Problem:

A store sold a total of  21,650 balls.  It sold 11,795 baseballs.  It sold 4150 fewer basketballs than baseballs.  The rest of the balls sold were footballs.  How many footballs were sold?

When solving word problems it often helps to read it at least twice so you can identify what I like to call the "golden nuggets."

So look at my notes below as I identify the important information or "golden nuggets" to solve the word problem. 

 

What I did first was identify the "Golden Nuggets" or important information.   What I was able to identify is that:

•  the store sold a total of 21,650 balls,   
• 11,795 baseballs were sold
• the number of basketballs sold were 4,150 less than baseballs or basketballs sold = (11,795 - 4150)
• The unknown was the number of footballs sold.

If you look through my work, you will notice the steps took to get the answer to this problem.  It takes multiple steps, but when you take the time to identify the important information it makes it easier to solve.

I hope my explanation of this Common Core word problem helps you with ones similar to this one.