Whole Number Arithmetic Online Documentation

Arithmetic Word Problems About Money

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You can use arithmetic daily in many settings. Here are some suggestions for how you can make up arithmetic story problems about money. To see more suggestions for other contexts go to Use Arithmetic Everyday.

If you give your child an allowance, or if you discuss the family budget with your child there are many opportunities to identify and solve problems with arithmetic. Some of this discussion that involves money may be new to your child. If your child is just beginning to recognize names and values of coins, you can count coins and dollars. So you can ask questions such as:

    How many nickels...?
    How many more dimes...?
    What do you have left if you take away 5 quarters?
You can also start to talk about numbers with decimals. This goes beyond arithmetic with whole numbers. However, it is a good idea to start discussing calculating money amounts as your child is ready to move to more difficult arithmetic. You can handle decimal amounts as whole numbers in many cases. For example, $1.35 is the same as 135 cents. So, asking a child how much you need to buy 3 items at $1.35 is the same as asking what is 3 X 135. Instead of working with decimals, you can round amounts, so that you can estimate answers. For example, if an item costs $1.95, you can pose a problem such as: This costs about $2. How much do you need to buy two of these? For more examples of how to estimate, see Use Estimating Skills.

When discussing saving and earning money, and planning to spend money you can ask questions about:

    Total amounts of money:
      How much...?
      How many (pennies, nickels, dimes, quarters, dollars)?
    Cost:
      How much does it cost?
      How much more does this item cost than you have?
      Can you afford this?
    Number of items:
      How many can you buy?
      What is the greatest number of these things you can buy?
      Can you buy this number of items?
    Time:
      How long will it take to earn that much?
      When will you have enough to buy that item?
Consider these example questions:

Addition

You have $12 in your bank (or your pocket) now. If you get $5 more, how much will you have altogether?

You took $15 out of your bank, and now you have $20 in the bank. How much did you have in your bank before you took the money out?

You have 5 nickels. If I give you 10 more nickels, how many nickels will you have?

Subtraction

Now that you have your $5 allowance, you have $32 in your bank. How much did you have before you got your allowance?

You have $45 in your bank. If you take out $8 to buy something, how many dollars will you have left?

I have 10 dimes and 5 nickels. How many more dimes than nickels do I have?

You have $4. The item you want to buy costs $6. How much more money do you need?

You have $10. Your brother has $60. How much more will you need to save to have as much as him?

Multiplication

You earn $2 an hour doing the laundry, how much will you earn in 3 hours?

You earn $12 a week in allowance. How much will you have by the end of the summer in 12 weeks?

You have $66. You want to buy 10 books that cost $6 each. Do you have enough money?

Division

A shirt that you want costs $27. You earn $3 a week for allowance. How many weeks allowance will it take to buy it?

You have $14. You want to buy as many $2 hats as you can. How many hats can you buy with the money you have?

I have $10. If I give you and your sister equal amounts, how much money will I give to each of you?
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Last Updated on October 6, 2000 by Chuck at SSSoftware.com