Math Problem

Here is a math problem the students were asked to solve today.  A koala eats about 2 1/2 pounds of gum leaves each day.  How many gum leaves would a koala eat in 4 days?  a week?  in the month of September?

Below are some different explanations from students on how they solved this problem.

Today we did a math problem.  First we did the 4 days.  We did 4 x 2=8.  Then we figured out ½ x 4 = 2 wholes. Then we did 8 + 2 = 10.  So the koala eats 10 pounds of gum leaves in 4 days. Then we did in a  week.  We did 2 x 7 =14.  Next we did ½  x 7 = 3 ½ . So we added 14 + 3 ½ = 17 ½  . The koala eats 17 ½ pounds of gum leaves in a week.  After that, we figured out how many pound of gum leaves a koala eats during the month of September.   There are 30 days in September so we did 30 x 2 = 60.  Then we did ½  x 30 = 15. Finally we did 60+15=75.  That was our math problem that we did today!

By: Brenna and Blake

For the last problem I did it by first doing 2 x 4 and its 8.  The ½ part is easy.   4 halves are 2 wholes, so 2+8=10.  The first answer is 10 pounds. Next was 1 week.   Which a week is 7days, so I did 2 x 7 and it is 14.  ½ x 7 is 3 and ½, so 14+3-1/2=17-1/2. The third problem was for the month of September.  It was so hard.   First in September there are 30 days.  I did ||| then || because each one has two wholes and one half.  I took the half from the next group so there were no halves.  Then I counted all of the lines 1,2,3,4,5… and I got 75.
By: Jonah

How we found out about how much  koalas eat in 4 days is by figuring out 4 x 2 ½ = 10.  In a week you do 7x 2 ½ = 17 1/2.  Finally the month of September is 30 days so 30 x 2 ½ =75.

How we found out the answer is we did 30 x 2= 60 and then 30 x ½.  We knew that two 1/2 equaled one whole so 30 halves equaled 15.  Finally we did 60 + 15 = 75.
By: Devyn and Owen

Below is a picture of how Nathan solved the last part of this problem.