Which operation should you use in word problems?
I was asked just recently about word problems and WHAT operation to use in them. Can you put a better explanation of when to use addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division, because my son is having a hard time understanding. Many children have the same problem, and I have written about it in the past as well. In a nutshell, I feel the MAIN reason students have trouble is the way word problems are presented (or not presented) in math books . Typically (and I still see this approach), when a lesson in a math book is on some operation , then the word problems in that lesson are typically solved using that particular operation . So, any intelligent kid who notices this pattern won't take time to decipher what the problem says, but will just take the two numbers that appear in the problem, and apply the operation that the lesson is about! (For example, if the lesson is on subtraction, then the word problems are solved using subtraction.) I have tried to AVOID this...