Q&A - PSLE Math

[chrisu]

Agreed and that's why it took me one whole night to understand the answer 450 is compared with before the share was given out. Hope that such question will not be out in the PSLE. Too time consuming even to draw the models.


Maybe the school should inform the publisher that there are 2 answers to the question.

tianzhu:

chrisu:

Thanks to all for responding to this post. My daughter came back yesterday evening and told me that the teacher and the Maths HOD agreed to accept both 225 and 450 as answer since the question is ambiguous.

The answer is 225 if comparison is made after the 1/3 and 1/5 is given to Rahmad. The answer will be 450 if the comparison is made before the 1/3 and 1/5 is given to Rahmad.

As for proving of Adam = 450;
If Adam = 450, Rahmad will be 370.
If Adam gives 1/3 of 450 to Rahmad,
Rahmad will get : 370 + 150 = 520.
520 - 450 = 70 (which is 70 more than Adam before the 1/3 is given out).

If Adam gives 1/5 of 450 to Rahmad,
Rahmad will get : 370 + 90 = 460.
460 - 450 = 10 (which is 10 more than Adam).

Hi

Consider this in real life situation.

If I have $450 and I give $150 away, I’ll have $300 left.

I find it difficult to understand the explanation from the school.

Best wishes

[tianzhu]

chrisu:

Agreed and that's why it took me one whole night to understand the answer 450 is compared with before the share was given out. Hope that such question will not be out in the PSLE. Too time consuming even to draw the models.

Hi

The question is why are we comparing with the original amount?

How about this question?

If Mark gives Lenny 14 stickers, he will have the same number of stickers as Lenny. If Lenny gives 10 stickers to Mark, the ratio of the number of stickers Lenny has to that of Mark will be 2: 5. How many stickers does Mark have?

Best wishes

[Hershey]

Hi, can someone please help to solve this 2 maths problem sum using model?


1) Albert and Benny had $282. Benny had $4 more than Albert. Benny spent 1/2 as much as Albert and was left with twice as much as Albert. How much did Benny spent?

2) The ratio of the number of stickers Alex had to the number of stickers Beng Han had was 1:3. After each of them received 25 stickers, the ratio became 3:4. How many stickers did they have altogether at first?

Thank you.

[mrswongtuition]

tianzhu:

chrisu:

Thanks to all for responding to this post. My daughter came back yesterday evening and told me that the teacher and the Maths HOD agreed to accept both 225 and 450 as answer since the question is ambiguous.


The answer is 225 if comparison is made after the 1/3 and 1/5 is given to Rahmad. The answer will be 450 if the comparison is made before the 1/3 and 1/5 is given to Rahmad.

As for proving of Adam = 450;
If Adam = 450, Rahmad will be 370.
If Adam gives 1/3 of 450 to Rahmad,
Rahmad will get : 370 + 150 = 520.
520 - 450 = 70 (which is 70 more than Adam before the 1/3 is given out).

If Adam gives 1/5 of 450 to Rahmad,
Rahmad will get : 370 + 90 = 460.
460 - 450 = 10 (which is 10 more than Adam).

Hi

Consider this in real life situation.

If I have $450 and I give $150 away, I’ll have $300 left.

I find it difficult to understand the explanation from the school.

Best wishes

I agree with Tianzhu.

From language understanding, the question says \"IF.......\" which means that they want us to assume the given scenario, not the original amount.

[mrswongtuition]

Hershey:

1) Albert and Benny had $282. Benny had $4 more than Albert. Benny spent 1/2 as much as Albert and was left with twice as much as Albert. How much did Benny spent?

At first: Benny had $4 more than Albert. They had $282.
A [--------] ```` }Total
B [--------][ 4 ]` }$282

Benny spent 1/2 as much as Albert and was left with twice as much as Albert.
[---] = left
[___] = spent

A [__][__][------]
B [__][------][------]
` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` [ 4]

Which means that....
1 unit of what was left is greater than 1 unit of what was spent by $4.

Redrawing it:
[++] = 1 unit of what was spent

A [++][++][++][4] ` `} Total
B [++][++][4][++][4] } 282

6 units = 282 - 4 - 4 - 4 = 270
1 unit = 270/6 = 45

Benny spent $45.

Hershey:

2) The ratio of the number of stickers Alex had to the number of stickers Beng Han had was 1:3. After each of them received 25 stickers, the ratio became 3:4. How many stickers did they have altogether at first?

A : B
1 : 3
+25:+25
3 : 4

Note: Since each of them received the same amount of stickers, the DIFFERENCE between the number of stickers at first and after remains the same.

A : B
1 : 3
Differece: 2 units
______________
+25:+25
______________
3 : 4
Difference: 1 unit

Multiply to make the difference in units the same:

A : B
1 : 3
Differece: 2 units (no change)
______________
+25:+25
______________
3 x 2 : 4 x 2
6 : 8
Difference: 1 unit x 2 = 2units

Comparing Alex's 6 units of stickers after receiving 25 stickers and his 1 unit of stickers at first...
6 - 1 = 5
5 units -> 25 stickers
1 unit -> 5 stickers

Total stickers at first: 1 + 3 = 4 units
4 units -> 4 x 5 = 20 stickers

[atutor2001]

chrisu:

Thanks to all for responding to this post. My daughter came back yesterday evening and told me that the teacher and the Maths HOD agreed to accept both 225 and 450 as answer since the question is ambiguous.


The answer is 225 if comparison is made after the 1/3 and 1/5 is given to Rahmad. The answer will be 450 if the comparison is made before the 1/3 and 1/5 is given to Rahmad.

As for proving of Adam = 450;
If Adam = 450, Rahmad will be 370.
If Adam gives 1/3 of 450 to Rahmad,
Rahmad will get : 370 + 150 = 520.
520 - 450 = 70 (which is 70 more than Adam before the 1/3 is given out).

If Adam gives 1/5 of 450 to Rahmad,
Rahmad will get : 370 + 90 = 460.
460 - 450 = 10 (which is 10 more than Adam).

The school's HOD ought to be skinned. Nothing in the question (based on what is given here) hinted that the comparison is to be made between \"after\" of Rahmad and \"before\" of Adam.

This is a common question and the school should know. A typical example of blindly following answer key with no confident to decide that the answer 450 is wrong.

[Sun_2010]

atutor2001:

chrisu:

Thanks to all for responding to this post. My daughter came back yesterday evening and told me that the teacher and the Maths HOD agreed to accept both 225 and 450 as answer since the question is ambiguous.


The answer is 225 if comparison is made after the 1/3 and 1/5 is given to Rahmad. The answer will be 450 if the comparison is made before the 1/3 and 1/5 is given to Rahmad.

As for proving of Adam = 450;
If Adam = 450, Rahmad will be 370.
If Adam gives 1/3 of 450 to Rahmad,
Rahmad will get : 370 + 150 = 520.
520 - 450 = 70 (which is 70 more than Adam before the 1/3 is given out).

If Adam gives 1/5 of 450 to Rahmad,
Rahmad will get : 370 + 90 = 460.
460 - 450 = 10 (which is 10 more than Adam).

The school's HOD ought to be skinned. Nothing in the question (based on what is given here) hinted that the comparison is to be made between \"after\" of Rahmad and \"before\" of Adam.

This is a common question and the school should know. A typical example of blindly following answer key with no confident to decide that the answer 450 is wrong.

Agreed !
The question as interpreted by the school is flawed.

[tianzhu]

chrisu:

Maybe the school should inform the publisher that there are 2 answers to the question.

Hi

Where is your question from?

You may want to write to the publisher to clarify.

Best wishes

[chrisu]

The question is from MyPal workbook where a number of the parents' kids are using too. Those students from other schools are also given the 450 as answer and not too sure if there is any feedback from their parents.

tianzhu:

chrisu:

Maybe the school should inform the publisher that there are 2 answers to the question.

Hi

Where is your question from?

You may want to write to the publisher to clarify.

Best wishes

[tianzhu]

chrisu:

The question is from MyPal workbook where a number of the parents' kids are using too. Those students from other schools are also given the 450 as answer and not too sure if there is any feedback from their parents.

Hi

Questions involving two cases or double if are common in primary maths.

Let your kid go through these questions, do we compare with the original quantity or remaining?

1) Wawa had some red and blue stickers. If 72 red stickers were removed, the ratio of the number of red stickers to that of the blue stickers would be 1 : 2. If 180 blue stickers were removed instead, the ratio would become 5 : 1. How many red stickers were there?

2) There are some red pins and blue pins in a box. If one of the red pin is removed, the number of red pins left will be 1/7 of the total number of pins left. If two blue pins are removed, the number of red pins will be 1/5 of the total number of pins left. How many pins are there in the box?

3) If Mark gives Lenny 14 stickers, he will have the same number of stickers as Lenny. If Lenny gives 10 stickers to Mark, the ratio of the number of stickers Lenny has to that of Mark will be 2: 5. How many stickers does Mark have?

Best wishes