One of the most common, everyday applications of math is dealing with money. This single problem calculating how much change Margie receives is more involved than it appears at first glance. An understanding of how fractions and decimals...

Help your fourth graders make cents out of fractions and decimals with this short word problem. After learning that dimes are one-tenth and pennies one-hundredth of a dollar, students write a fraction and decimal for a given number...

What starts as a basic question of division and remainders quickly turns abstract in this question of related ratios and radii. The class works to surround a central coin with coins of the same and different values, then develops a...

Young scholars get familiar with money during this series of engaging math activities. A game has class teams accumulating money and using symbol and number cards to display their total amount correctly on a pocket chart. All the symbol...

More on the fictitious takeover of the Apple Corporation by Microsoft. In this scenario, Microsoft has $28.00 per share to spare, so how many do they need to offer to make an even trade? This is an engaging problem to solve when...

Ask your algebra learners to write an equation that has unit constraints. This commentary talks about the constraints, but does not show them in the equation. It is important that your mathematicians understand that the units apply to...

Real-world multiple-step proportion problems are sometimes hard to find for your math class. Here is one designed specifically to meet that need. Learners use proportional relationships to determine price per share in the acquisition of...

Mixture problems are a classic in first-year algebra. Unfortunately, many learners approach them in a formulaic fashion and don't truly understand the meaning of the algebraic expressions they are using. Here, the questions are not the...

Students will be challenged to submit an equation that "fits" a picture of a Christmas tree. Then they will generate an equation based upon a transformation of the picture.