How to teach "Less than" questions?

[Vincent Chua]

hi!


usually if the question ask:\" how many more/less?\" it it definitely a minus question because it is asking for the difference.

eg. 5 is __ more than 2
so the question is read as 5 is how many more than 2

7 is ___ less than 9

so the question is read as 7 is how many less than 9

for the following questions:

5 is 2 less than__
so usually i would read as 5 is less, so i need a bigger answer, so i need to add

2 less than 7 is__
so usually i will focus reading on less than 7, so i need a smaller answer, i need to minus

hope it helps

[Yong HL]

My girl finally understands the concept, after >1 month daily practise!

Thanks to all the tips from all of you :thankyou:

And for the problem sums on \"less than & more than\", she can get very confused who has less and who has more in a problem story sum format compared to a straight forward question (i dunno why). I used the Fan Math model approach to explain and let her practice.. and it works out fine so far.. hope this can sustain :xedfingers:

[floatinggate]

pinky88:

Yong HL:

Hi


My P1 girl is weak in the area of \"Less than\" maths questions eg:

a) 2 is ___ less than 10
b) 3 is 4 less than ____

Is there any technique to teach her the concept? I tried to ask her think through grammatically but couldnt work.

Need help! thank you....

This is the area many kids are weak in. For me, I used to teach my kids to form an equation as follows:

_____ is 2 less than 5
Equation : 5 - 2 = ______
Read fm the right to left & translate into equation i.e. 5 - (less than) 2 = (is) ______

2 less than 5 is ______
Equation : _____ = 5 - 2 (Explain that 5-2 = ___ is the same as __ = 5-2)

2 is _____ less than 5
Equation : 5 - _____ = 2

2 is 5 less than ______
Equation : _____ - 5 = 2 (Explain that u need a bigger no. to minus the other no., hence u hv to plus)

_____ is 2 more than 5
Equation : 5 + (more than) 2 = (is) _______

2 more than 5 is _____
Equation : ____ = 5 + 2

5 is ____ more than 2
Equation : 2 + ______ = 5


5 is 2 more than _____
Equation : _____ + 2 = 5

This works if yr child understands how to solve the equation, it worked on my kids when they were in P1. As the child progresses, he/she will hv a better understanding so can skip this step.

Taught ds with this equation method too...after that ds will use either mental cal or finger cal to find the answer; it took some time/practice for ds to shoe with this \"less than\" 'more than\" questions.

[XYZ1]

pinky88:

This is the area many kids are weak in. For me, I used to teach my kids to form an equation as follows:

Hi pinky88

do you teach your kids this at P1? And they can grasp this concept at P1 level?

XYZ1

[petals73]

Hi


I hv just joined this forum and happended to come across this old thread and would like to share my tips which is taught by a friend

Always replace the the words with sigh as follows
"less than" with "-"
"More than" with "+"
"is" with "="
"What is" with "?"
And work from right to left

Eg.
_ is 2 less than 8
_ = 2 - 8

2 is _ less than 8
2 = _ - 8

6 less than 8 is _
6 - 8 = _

9 is _ more than 4
9 = _ + 4

This method works very well with my 2 kids when they were in P1.

Cheers
Petals73

[petals73]

Hi


I hv just joined this forum and happended to come across this old thread and would like to share my tips which is taught by a friend

Always replace the the words with sigh as follows
"less than" with "-"
"More than" with "+"
"is" with "="
"What is" with "?"
And work from right to left

Eg.
_ is 2 less than 8
_ = 2 - 8

2 is _ less than 8
2 = _ - 8

6 less than 8 is _
6 - 8 = _

9 is _ more than 4
9 = _ + 4

This method works very well with my 2 kids when they were in P1.

Cheers
Petals73

[cimman]

the problem with primary school maths is that it is just too wordy. The problem gets worse when you go to higher levels. The trick is to transform the words to mathematical relationships and then solve the problem from there. Here is an example. Break down the \"more than\" \"less than questions\" into diagrams.

Here's the legend:
http://i44.tinypic.com/rk7aeg.jpg\">
the cirlce represents the blank you see in every question. Put a circle on the box that you need to find the answer.

due to the limitations of the forum, I'll have to split this into multiple posts because I can't post multiple images in a single post....at least not more than 2...

[cimman]

here is the diagram template for \"more than\":

http://i40.tinypic.com/dr6mfk.png\">

here is the diagram template for \"less than\"
http://i40.tinypic.com/35n3haf.png\">

[cimman]

here is how you use the template for \"more than\" question types:

http://i41.tinypic.com/2n739q8.jpg\">

in every question, focus on the keyword \"more than\", put the relevant numbers into the respective boxes. If there is a blank, put a circle in the relevant box to indicate it is a blank in the problem statement.

The fonts in black are numbers transferred directly from the problem statement. The fonts in red are calculated values.

I've put in 3 columns, A, B and C in the diagram. Based on where the circle is located, column A, or B or C, the operation, + or - will need to be used.
If circle falls into Column C, then use + operation.
If circle falls into Column A, then use - operation.

[please ignore this post, it's a double post, just read the post below]

[cimman]

here is how you use the template for \"more than\" question types:

http://i43.tinypic.com/ok90ud.png\">

in every question, focus on the keyword \"more than\", put the relevant numbers into the respective boxes. If there is a blank, put a circle in the relevant box to indicate it is a blank in the problem statement.

The fonts in black are numbers transferred directly from the problem statement. The fonts in red are calculated values.

I've put in 3 columns, A, B and C in the diagram. Based on where the circle is located, column A, or B or C, the operation, + or - will need to be used.
If circle falls into Column C, then use + operation to get the calculated value to fill in the blank box. Since there are only 2 numbers, just add the 2 numbers up.

Just remember the first step, is to transfer the numbers from the problem statement to the relevant boxes. Once the 2 \"more than\" orange boxes are filled up, the remaining number in the problem statement will go to the Yellow box (I call it the \"is\" box)

The second step, put the circle on the box where you need to find the answer.

The third step, check which column the circle is in. Use the operation for that column to find the answer.

If circle falls into Column A, then use - operation.
If circle falls into Column B, then use - operation.