Solve Difficult Math Word Problems Easily

Are you having a hard time dealing with very complicated Math word problems? So hard that it makes you want to scream at the top of your lungs and bang your head against the walls?

These are the indications that you are having an unfathomable predicament in Mathematics. There’s nothing to be ashamed of since most of us find it tough to answer nerve-wracking math problems. The main reason why many students consider math as a difficult subject is that it takes patience and persistence. Math is not something that comes intuitively or automatically, with little effort. It is a subject that sometimes requires students to devote lots and lots of time and efforts.

We often have Math word problems during our exams, right? And seeing these texts drains all our energy. We tend to give up easily the moment we see long math problems without even trying to solve it. That is why I made this article to help students to become braver when it comes to overcoming math word problems. Here are some of the pointers and tips that you should take note carefully.

Read the problem at least three times. Read the problem swiftly the first time as a scanning process. While you are evaluating the problem the second time, answer these three questions.

• What is the problem asking me?
• What is the problem telling me that is useful? (Cross out unneeded information).
• What is implied in the problem? (Usually something you have been told to remember)

Read the problem a third time to check that you fully understand its meaning.

• Draw a simple picture of the problem to make it more real to you (e.g., a circle with an arrow can represent travel in any form - by train, by boat, by plane, by car, or by foot).
• Make a table of information and leave a blank space for information you are not told.
• Use as few unknowns in your table as possible.
• Translate the English terms into an algebraic equations.
• Solve the equation using the rules of algebra.
• Look at your answer to see if it makes common sense.
• Put your answer back into the original equation to see if it is correct If one side of the equation equals the other side of the equation, then you have the correct answer.

Here are some keywords that you will encounter while solving word problems very often.

Examples of English Words translated into Algebraic Expressions:

( Credits to - Paul D. Nolting, Ph.D., Winning at Math, 1997. 1989 by Academic Success Press, Inc. )

Bear all of these tips in solving Math word problems and you will surely be on your way to becoming an academic achiever in Math!