Addition & Subtraction Word Problems

How to solve addition and subtraction word problems using tape diagrams?
What is a tape diagram?
A tape diagram is a drawing that looks like a segment of tape, used to illustrate number relationships. Also known as strip diagrams, bar model, fraction strip, or length model.
Example:

1. The office supply closet had 25,473 large paperclips, 13,648 medium paperclips, and 15,306 small paperclips. How many paperclips were in the closet?
   
   
2. Raffle tickets were sold for a school fundraiser to parents, teachers, and students. 563 students were sold to teachers. 888 more tickets were sold to students than to teachers. 904 tickets were sold to parents.
   a) About how many tickets were sold to parents, teachers, and students? Round each number to the nearest hundred to find your estimate.
   b) Exactly, how many tickets were sold to parents, teachers, and students?
   
   During the month of March, 68,025 pounds of king crab were caught. If 15,614 pounds were caught in the first week of March, how many pounds were caught in the rest of the month?

How to solve addition and subtraction word problems?

1. Read the entire problem.
   
2. Decide who is involved in the problem
   
3. Decide what is involved in the problem
   
4. Draw unit bars of equal length
   
5. Read each sentence one at a time
   
6. Put in question mark in place
   
7. Work computation to the side or underneath
   
8. Answer the question in a complete sentence
   
   Addition Model Drawing
   Example:
   Alicia had $6 more than Bobby. If Bobby has $10, how much did they have altogether?

• Show Step-by-step Solutions

Singapore Math Addition
Examples:
(1) Sydney has 7 Sponge Bob stickers. She also has 8 scratch-and-sniff stickers. How many stickers does Sydney have altogether?
(2) Micah had 4 more Halloween treats than Katelyn. If Katelyn had 12 treats, how many did they have altogether?

Model: Addition and Subtraction
Examples:
(1) Sara received 73 votes in the school election. Ben received 25 fewer votes than Sara. How many students voted?
First: Find how many students voted for Ben.
Next: Find the total number of votes.
(2) What if there were 3 students in another election and the total number of voted was the same? What would the bar model for the total number of votes look like? How many votes might each student get?

Try the free Mathway calculator and problem solver below to practice various math topics. Try the given examples, or type in your own problem and check your answer with the step-by-step explanations.

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