Multi-step word problems

Learn with an example

📢 Paul bought 9 books about plants and 10 books about fish. He also bought 4 science magazines. Each book cost ₹1,087 and each magazine cost ₹370.

How much did Paul spend in all?

₹_____

Step 1: Find the total number of books.

9 + 10 = 19

Step 2: Find the cost of the books.

₹1,087 × 19 = ₹20,653

Step 3: Find the cost of the magazines.

₹370 × 4 = ₹1,480

Step 4: Find the total cost.

₹1,480 + ₹20,653 = ₹22,133

Paul spent ₹22,133.

📢 Haley bought stamps at the post office. Some of the stamps had a snowflake design, some had a truck design, and some had a rose design. Haley bought 14 snowflake stamps. She bought 8 more truck stamps than snowflake stamps, and 17 fewer rose stamps than truck stamps.

How many stamps did Haley buy in all?

​ ______stamps

Step 1: Find the number of truck stamps.

14 + 8 = 22

Step 2: Find the number of rose stamps.

22 − 17 = 5

Step 3: Find the total number of snowflake, truck, and rose stamps.

14 + 22 + 5 = 41

Haley bought 41 stamps.

📢 Ling bought 6 packages of cat food and 3 packages of dog food. Each package of cat food contained 5 tins, and each package of dog food contained 4 tins.

How many more tins of cat food than dog food did Ling buy?

​ ______tins

Step 1: Find the number of tins of cat food.

6 × 5 = 30

Step 2: Find the number of tins of dog food.

3 × 4 = 12

Step 3: Find the difference.

30 − 12 = 18

Ling bought 18 more tins of cat food.

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