Try telling her to read IS as = (ie.10 more than 78 = )

I told my son to put + on more than and - on less than and = on is. So he can see the equation clearly

Thatz good idea!! Thks. Then how do i explain that "10 less than 82 is" is not "10 - 82 ="

Always use big no to minus small number

I suggest you use tools such as lego pieces or big read beans. Some child needs concrete tools to visualise the question. Eg. U hv 78 beans then u put 10 more beans. Eg. U hv 82 beans then u takeaway 10 beans. After few demo then the child will easily understand the concept. Hope it helps :)

Rearrange the words. Is 88 move to the front becomes 88 is 10 more than 78. 72 is 10 less than... 86 is 10 less than 96

"10 less than 82" is the same as "subtract 10 from 82

"10 more than 78" is the same as "add 10 to 78"

Angela, first you need to recognize that that the relationship between this English sentence and the mathematical statement is reverse , while IS can be equate to =, a lot of people thought that 10 more than 78 is 10 + 78 which is not true, it should be written as 78 + 10, so similarly 10 less than 82 is 82 - 10, the 10 is written at the back when it is written first

These are terrible math questions. And for a p1 child, i think it confuses them more than any help. Not all assessment books are good for the child.

School work also has these type of qns.. agree tat it, can be at times, confusing even for a child with above average understanding of English.

The 1st ans should b 88.. Not 87..

Less than '-', more than '+' applicable to these type of questions. Not applicable for problem sums. Example: John has 10 stickers. He has 5 less than Peter. How many stickers peter has? If ur child sees less than '-', then he will have difficult with problem sums.

I agree with pui leng as my kids teacher uses - & + for these qns too n naturally when comes to problem sums they got confuse.. So its better to sub w words or change ways to describe..

Wong Pui Leng, exactly. I initially taught her to spot "more than" as + n "less than" as -...then she was happy that she finally get it until when she look at the problem sums n then i realised i had confused her :(

Eileen Chia, gosh...thks for highlighting that!! my girl careless n mummy also careless when checking 😕

Agree with u Irene Lim n Lillian Ong :(

Thks Aaron Hee!! I will explain it that way to my girl :)

Thks Lin Ling Goh, Why Cube Yeo, Brenda Ang, Yeo See Yeong n Susan Lim!! :)

No prob angela.. Its nice to have parents helping out each other..

Angela, note that when it comes to problem sum, the word more than and less than does not always make you use + and -, though the meaning doesnot change but there is an unknown you need to find which does not mean you are looking for the number after the equal sign. For example, looking for x in x + 2 = 6 requires you to use subtraction, but for the same sum to find x in 4 + 2 = x, it uses addition directly

Yes Aaron Hee, thks for the note. Last time i use to tell my girl more than is plus n less than is minus until we tackle some word problems which don't work that way n i hv to re-teach her..which ends up confusing her...will remind her on this again...thks ya..really appreciate ur help, ur explanations r clear n straight firward which i can use to explain to her :)

When I taught my children, I use a ladder concept. Eg, for qn 1, start at step 78, then read the qn, what does xxx more than means? it means u climb up xxx steps. Such questions test one's english, sometimes the unknown is at 10 or at 78, and sometimes the qn is phrase another way. I spent quite a fair bit of time when I taught my #1, and now his understanding of word problems is pretty strong... I believe that the time spent in understand maths at a lower level is good foundation to tougher qns in future.

My son has similar problem too. I gave him 2 numbers say 4 and 6 and asked him to come up with sentences involving 'more than' and 'less than' with these two numbers. Made some cards for him too to shift around as it is more fun.

My gal struggled with this when p1 too but after much practise in p2 these questions is like easily handled now lol

Sorry, haven finish. I ask her to check the answer to see if it makes sense if not, it means it's incorrect. (No techniques)

Thks Kheng Yan, Andrew Yap, n Lee Huei...glad to know that we r not alone in this n the success u hv with ur methods. I will try it out too. Maybe visuals can help her better. :)

The best way to learn the concept of More than and Less than is to use concrete objects. It can be blocks (as in the photo) or any small items from your home. More important is to work with Small numbers as the concepts of understanding is more important than the actual computation. Eg. reduce the numbers to 2 or 4 and allow the child to move the blocks around to derive the answer by themselves. Please do Not ask the child to memorize the terms More than is "+" or Less than is "-" Rote learning (doing it over and over again without understanding) should be avoided too as once you move the unknown around, the child will not know what to do if he/she does not understand the concept.

My boy had the same problem.. then he learnt this trick from his tuition centre.. it's quite self-explanatory from the pic. Hope this will help your girl. :)

Yes, blocks do help too!

Q1.5 Flour: 3U+Amt Sold=3.9kg Sugar: 1U+Amt Sold=1.8kg Flour-Sugar: 2U=2.1kg U=1.05kg Left with 3.15kg of flour

Q1.6 4U=$360-$80=$280 U=$70 Timothy had $70+$360=$430 at first

Thanks so much! I truly appreciate this!

Fooled by my own model previously. Thanks Nandula Hema for the answer. else I wouldn't know I made a mistake. Attached pls see the modification.

Thank you

If we consider the lowest common multiple of 14 and 16, we get 112. The reason is that 14 = 2 × 7 while 16 = 2 × 8. Hence the lowest common multiple is 2 × 7 × 8 = 112, which is within the range of 60 and 120. We do not need to worry about excess 8 chairs when the chairs are arranged in rows of 14, but we do need to take into account that there will be 6 chairs short when the chairs are arranged in rows of 16. Since we need 6 more chairs to arrange them in rows of 16, and that 112 chairs are required, it reasons that the number of chairs in the hall is 112 - 6 = 106.

Thanks guys!

Just an alternate approach. Mister Yeo's method is easier for the young ones to understand.

The pleasure is mine. Thank you.

Mister Yeo, why 14 = 2 u?

Miss Hu, sounds funny to call u that. Sophia better lah. 16u is total chairs needed, if u put 16 chairs in a row. Compare the model of 16 to that of 14, we deduce 2u = (8+6)

Mister Yeo, I like your model. (y)

Call me see yeong can liao. Too formal lah. Thanks for your like.

Yeo See Yeong, ur maths see Beh Ho.

Teresa Ng, pianjia pianjia lah. Lots to learn from all the gurus here. Everyday I am learning new things.

Respect you mah, Mister Yeo, so I address accordingly loh.

Yeo See Yeong, by the time ur kids go pram-bee one, u machiam expert can teach them Liao leh or open tuition school ahaha ....

In this problem the number of rows is fixed. In one situation, we put 14 chairs In each row. In another situation, we put 16 chairs in each row. The total number of chairs in both situations are the same.

Suppose there are 5 rows. Total number of chairs: 70+8 and 80-6 are not equal. How about 6 rows? 7 rows? ..,, This is the guess and check method.

Not all students can see easily that the number of rows is 14/2=7.

Let x be the number of rows. Then by equating the total number of chairs, we have 14x + 8 = 16x - 6 Solving the equation to find the value of x, and hence find the total number of chairs. This is the algebraic method that students will learn in secondary school.

1320/50=26R20 ($263-1320x$0.15)/26=$2.5