Super Subs Inc. is planning on hiring new employees for the summer. They want to make sure their new employees are available to work on the busiest day of the week. Below is a chart of their four different stores, and how many sub sandwiches they sold at each store the previous week. According to this chart, which day will the new hires most likely need to work?

1. Wednesday

2. Thursday

3. Friday

4. Saturday

5. Sunday

Super Subs Inc. may need to shut down a store due to the bad economy. According to the chart, which store would they most likely shut down?

1. Store A

2. Store B

3. Store C

4. Store D

5. None of the Stores

For more information about the GED test and GED test preparation, visit the GED Academy at http://www.passGED.com

What Percent OF the Original amount IS the Difference between the two amounts?

P × O = D

Percent decrease is pretty much the same thing. What percent of the original amount is the difference between the two amounts? Only difference in figuring it out is that the second amount is lower than the first, not higer. No sweat. The percent times the original amount still equals the difference. It’s just a decrease, not an increase. Get it?

Let’s look at it. Here’s a practice problem.

I filled up my car, so it had 15 gallons of gas in the tank. So, I drove out to my uncle’s house and back, and it took $18 in gas at $2 per gallon to fill up the tank. What was the percentage decrease in gas during the trip?

Did I get you with a tough one? More than jus’ one step here. Try to figure it out, then I’ll walk you through it…

Okay, here’s the deal. You need to do some steps to get the info you need to solve the problem… so what info do you need? Well, here’ s the formula we said….

P × O = D

Percent decrease (P) is what you’re tryin’ to find. Original value, you know that, it was 15 gallons, like the problem said.

P × 15 = D

But what’s the difference between the old amount of gas an’ the new one? Well, you gotta figure it out. It’s the amount of gas that got used, right? The info you have is that it took $18 at $2 per gallon to fill up the tank. How much gas can you get at $2 a gallon for 18 bucks? You know that, right? Divide 18 by 2, an’ you got 9 gallons. It took 9 gallons to fill up the tank, so the gas left at the end of the trip was 6 gallons. The difference between the 15 gallons started with an’ the 6 gallons ended with is 9 gallons. Get it?

P × 15 = 9

So, the percentage decrease is 9 divided by 15, or .6

P = 9 ÷ 15 = .6

Now, you gotta turn .6 into a percentage, an’ you jus’ move the decimal point over two to the right. So’s it’s 60%.

P = 9 ÷ 15 = .6 = 60%

The guy used 60% of his gas on the trip.

Knowin’ what a percent increase or decrease problem is askin’ is the big thing, and bein’ able to think through word problems. Let me know if you got any GED math that’s givin’ you a problem, an’ I’ll help you out.

For more information about the GED test and GED test preparation, visit the GED Academy at http://www.passGED.com.

Plus, remember ’bout Stephen Wolfram? Yup, mathematics guy, wrote some software to do advanced math real quick. Well, he’s starting a new online website, and here’s what it does… You type in your question, and it’s got a big encyclopedia of a bunch of info, right? So it figures out your question… and sends you the answer. Don’t think that math ain’t at the bottom of it. The website’s up later this month… called Wolfram Alpha. so check it out, the next cool thing, brought to y’all by MATH.

Math ain’t too hard. Jus’ take it step by step, once you get the basics down, you get there. How ’bout a practice question to get the juices goin’? Here it is…

Annie is an interior designer, and she’s got a budget of $345 to buy fabric for drapes. She needs 12 yards of fabric. The fabric that she really wants, Fabric A, costs $29 per yard. Her second choice, Fabric B, costs $27.50 per yard, and her third choice, Fabric C, costs $26 per yard. She wants to buy her top choice that she can afford and stay in budget. Which fabric should she buy?

1) Fabric A

2) Fabric B

3) Fabric C

4) All the fabrics are too expensive.

So… what’d'ya get? And how’d ya go about it? Here’s what I figure… I could multiply the cost of each fabric by 12 yards to find out how much each would cost, but that seems like too much work to me. So I wanna take the shortest short-cut I got. Here’s what I did… take the total budget, $345, and divide it by 12 yards of fabric. That gonna give me the budget PER YARD, then I can jus’ compare that with all the prices.  $345 divided by 12 is $28.75, so I got my max price per yard. Now, I can’t afford the $29 fabric, jus barely. Don’t know bout you, but I’d be all smooth-talkin’ the fabric store owner to try to get a discount. But dat ain’ t part of the question. So the answer’s 2, Answer B, the $27.50 fabric.

And, you notice, this GED question’s all ’bout a real-life job that’d really use this kinda math. So, keep it in mind… math’s real good for your future!

I’m not bad in math except when it comes to word problems any advice?

Hey, the GED’s real big on word problems, so you gotta get the hang of them. Why’d they gotta have word problems? Cuz they ain’t so much int’rested if you can figure out 3x + 4 = 12 as if you can figure out how much you’ll save each month if you buy generic soda instead of regular soda. See what I mean? One’s a plain math problem, the other’s a word problem. You’ve gotta first figure out what math you need to use it! See, my math teacher told me, math’s like a tool box. You got all these different math tools, and they help you do different things. You gotta know when to use what tool, to solve the problem you got in front of you. So, a math word problem is like a real-life problem that you might use math to solve. Okay, okay, whatcha really wanna know is, how to solve ‘em?

1) Read the Problem and Figure Out What It’s Asking

The first step is to figure out what the answer you’re lookin’ for is. How ’bout that question I asked before?

Greg buys 4 2-liter bottles of brand-name soda a week, at the price of $1.29 per bottle. One week each month, the soda goes on sale for $.79 per bottle. The store also has generic soda, which always costs $.99 per bottle. How much will Greg save in one year by buying the generic soda instead of brand-name soda?

There’s a word problem for ya’. So, read it through. What’s the main idea? What’s it asking? What is it you’re trying to find? In this place the answer is savings, in one year, of buying generic soda. It can help you out to rewrite what you’re trying to find in your own words:

Find the savings, in one year, of buying generic soda.

2) Look at What Information You’ve Got

Go through the problem and make notes of what information it gives you. This is what you’ve got to work with. I might go through the problem an’ pick out:

2-Liter Sodas Bought: 4 bottles a week
Costs: $1.29 each, $.79 once a month for 1 week
Generic Costs: $.99 each

Sometimes it helps to draw a picture or a chart. Anything that helps you get the info straight in your head.

3) Make a Plan

Now you gotta figure out what to do. How do you take the info it gives you, an’ get from there to the answer? This is where thinkin’ it through comes in. You need a plan. You got all the tools in your math toolbox: addition, subtraction, multiplication, division. Which ones make sense? What info do you need to use?

Well. Let’s look at it, one step at a time. We wanna know how much he’ll save in a year. So, how much does he spend in a year? Let’s start there. Then, we’ll figure out how much he’ll spend if he buys generic. Then, we want to know the difference of the two. That means, subtracting. So, that’s my plan:

1) Figure out how much Greg spends in a year.
2) Figure out how much Greg would spend buying generic.
3) Subtract to find out how much he’d save.

3) Do the Math!

Step 1: How much does he spend in a year? Greg buys 4 sodas a week. Most of the time, they’re $1.29 each. To figure out how much he spends most weeks, what do you do? Multiply, right? $1.29 times 4 sodas:

4 × 1.29 =5.16

Okay, that’s a regular week. What about when the soda’s on sale? That’s:

4 × .79 =3.16

Now, you need some more thinking. How many weeks in a year does he spend $3.16? Once a month, right? So that’s 12. For each of 12 weeks, he pays $3.16. Multiplication again:

3.16 × 12 =37.92

Now, that’s part of the year. The rest of the year, he pays 5.16. Now, to know how many weeks that is, you (1) need to know there’s 52 weeks in a year, and (2) need to subtract, because you want to know how many are left.

52 – 12 = 40

So, for 40 weeks, he spends $5.16:

40 × 5.16 =206.40

Great. Long road to get here. But what’s the total he spends in a year? When you want to know a total, you want to add…

206.40 + 37.92 = 244.32

Yikes! That’s a lot of dough. (Hey, most GED problems won’t have so many steps, but it’s good practice.)

Step 2: How much would he spend buying generic? This is easier, cuz it’s all one price. $.99 times 4 bottles times 52 weeks.

.99 × 4 × 52 = $205.92

Step 3: Subtract to find out how much he’d save:

$244.32 – 205.92 = $38.40

4) Does the Answer Make Sense?

Okay. Take a step back. Does what you did make sense? Does it seem like a reasonable answer to the question? The question is, how much will he save in a year if he buys generic soda, about .30 cents less (usually) than brand-name soda–but sometimes .20 cents more. So, on average, what’s he saving? .20 per soda? Maybe? 50 weeks, 4 sodas a week, so 200 sodas-ish a year, at 20 cents would be about 40 bucks.  The answer’s about 40 bucks. That sounds reasonable. I ain’t bein’ exact enough to estimate an answer, but I know my answer at least ain’t way off in the wild somewhere. I mean, if I got $384.00 by accident, I’d KNOW it was wrong.

The other advice I got is, practice! Here’s some places to get practice word problems. Hey, they won’t all be this complex. Start with the easier ones an’ work yo’ way up. An’ show me any of ‘em that give you problems. I’ll try walkin’ thru ‘em.

http://www.mathplayground.com/wordproblems.html

http://www.quia.com/pop/13193.html

http://www.quia.com/jq/19998.html

http://www.cdli.ca/CITE/math_problems.htm

For more information about the GED test and GED test preparation, visit the GED Academy at http://www.passGED.com.

Im about to take my math test,I am horrible in math.right now I am working on word probloms.How do I know if these word probloms are asking me to subtract,divide,multiply or add.please help.

Yeah! Tough, ain’t it? But the GED wants to know if you can do math on the fly, you know. That’s why they give you word problems. Like, you’re waitin’ in the line at the supermarket. Do you got enough money for what’s in your cart? How do you know? You’ve got to choose what math to do to figure it out… in this case, ADD together everything in your cart, and SUBTRACT from how much money you’ve got.

Try to think through the problem in concrete terms. Picture it. How do the diff’rent numbers relate to each other?

ADD if you need to find a total, figure out what more than one thing together is. For example, if you deposit $40, $160 and $30 in your bank, and you started out with $200, how much you got? You ADD because you’re trying to find out what it is all together.  $200 + $40 + $160 + $30 = $430. That’s more than I got!

SUBTRACT if you need to find the difference between two things or what you got left over, or how much bigger one thing is than another. For example, how much more will you save from buying the $150 TV instead of the $180 TV? Subtract, because you need to find out how much more one is than the other. $180 – $150 = $30 saved by buyin’ the cheaper TV.

MULTIPLY if you need to find out the total of something repeated over a number of years, over a number of miles. For example, if you’re going to drive 40 miles to the beach, and each mile costs $0.10 in gas, how much will the drive cost in gas? You need 10 cents for each mile… and that’s what MULTIPLICATION is for. All you gotta do is multiply 40 x $0.10 to get $4.00 in gas for the whole trip.

DIVIDE if you need to find out a part of something, or how something separates into even amount. So, if Karen paid $45 for 5 of the same scarf to give to people for Christmas, how much is one scarf? It’s 45 ÷ 5 = $9 for each scarf. DIVIDING divides a number into equal parts.

That’s the quick low-down. Here’s some resources for more info on word problems…

http://mathforum.org/dr.math/faq/faq.word.problems.html

http://academic.cuesta.edu/acasupp/as/706.htm

http://www.studygs.net/mathproblems.htm

And get some practice…

http://www.satmathpro.com/SMP_WordProblems.html

For more information about the GED test and GED test preparation, visit the GED Academy at http://www.passGED.com.

Satix is at a flea market. She wants to get the most knives at the lowest price. But she also wants to get at least one of each. The prices of the knives are: $ 4.30, $12.80, $11.50, $7.30, $ 7.50. If she has $50 to spend how much will her change be?

This is a tough word problem, so you gotta think it through. Hey, it’s great practice. Cuz if you can think through this, thinkin’ through some other word problems’ll be E-Z. This is what I call a number sense problem, cuz there ain’t no real advanced math, just makin’ sense of it, bein’ logical about it, and doin’ some basic math.

So, Satix wants one each of all the knives. You know she’s gonna buy one of each, so she’s going to buy at least:

$ 4.30 + $12.80 + $11.50 + $7.30 + $ 7.50 = $43.40

She’s spent $43.40, just on one of each knife. But she wants as many knives as possible. So, does she buy anything else? How much’s she got left?

$50.00 – $43.40 = $6.60

She’s got $6.60 left, so she can buy one more of the cheapest knives.

$6.60 – $4.30 = $2.30

That gives her $2.30 in change. Not enough to get another knife. So she be done. And you got the answer to the question…how much change she got left? $2.30. There ya go.

For more information about the GED test and GED test preparation, visit the GED Academy at http://www.passGED.com.

So, here’s somethin’ that happened. And I figure it makes a pretty good word problem, especially since it’s got to do with fractions. So, lemme explain somethin’ first. I don’t cook, generally. But my friend Liz, she cooks all the time. She says it’s better for you to eat at home, and cheaper, too, and I guess I can’t argue too much widdat. So, she says she gonna teach me how to cook, right? So, she’s showin’ me how to make pancakes.

Well, the recipe for pancakes says 1-1/2 cups flour, but I don’t got a lot of measuring cups and stuff in my kitchen, and after looking around, all I could come up with is a 1/3-cup measuring cup, which I don’t know how it got there, but there it was. So, here’s the question: how many 1/3 cups of flour do I need to put in to get 1-1/2 cups?

How’s that for a word problem?

Any ideas? How’d you set about it, d’y think?

Well, here’s how I did it. I know that 3 of the 1/3 measures will give me 1 cup. Then, I need 1/2 cup. Well, if three 1/3 cups give me a whole cup, then half of that will give me a half cup. Follow? That’s 1-1/2 of the 1/3 measures. So all together, three plus 1-1/2 is 4-1/2 of the 1/3 cup measures. So, I measure out 4 and eyeball a half of the 1/3 measure. That gives me 1-1/2 cups, but I got to get some measuring cups!! Did you figure it out?

Well, how about lookin’ at the math? What we’re really doin’ here is dividing…. how many times do 1/3 go into 1-1/2… how many 1/3rds are in 1-1/2 cups? So you could write it out:

1-1/2 ÷ 1/3 =

Now, first off, I’m going to change 1-1/2 to an improper fraction, so it’s all one fraction. 1-1/2 is the same as 3/2 (that’s 2/2 plus 1/2)… so we got:

3/2 ÷ 1/3 =

Now, to DIVIDE fractions, you gotta do a switcheroo. You turn over the second fraction, so 1/3 becomes 3/1, and you change division to multiplication…

3/2 × 3/1 =

Both those steps just make the problem easier. Now, to multiply two fractions, you multiply across the top (3 × 3 = 9) to get the top, and multiply across the bottom (2 × 1 = 2) to get the bottom:

3/2 × 3/1 = 9/2

How much is 9/2? 2 goes into 9 four times, with 1 left over:

3/2 × 3/1 = 9/2 = 4-1/2

Four and a half! Same as I got just by thinkin’ it through. How’s that for some math?

How’d you do? Be sure to send me any GED problems you havin’ trouble with!

For more information about the GED test and GED test preparation, visit The GED Academy at http://www.passGED.com.

Hey Curtis ,

Thanks for your prompt reply man . This is one of the problems I struggled with involving distance :

- A man started walking at 2 mph, while a woman 2 miles behind him began walking at the same time at a rate of 4 mph, and in the same direction. Just then, the man’s dog left him and ran toward the woman. Upon reaching her, it instantly turned around and ran back toward thr man. And so, the dog continued to run back and forth between them, at a constant rate of 5 mph, until the woman finally overtook the man. How far did the dog run?

**** Go enjoy figuring it out and let me know how to do it man !

Zaher

In the GED test, on the page with all the formulas, you got one for distance:

distance = rate x time

So, what’s it mean? Distance is how far you gonna go, rate is how fast you goin’, and time is, well, time. So, how far you go is how fast you go times how long you’re travelin’. In other words, if you get in your car and start drivin’ down the highway, the faster you go, and the longer time you drive, the farther you’ll get. Makes sense, right? If your speed (rate) goes up, the distance you travel goes up. If your time (how long you drive) goes up, the distance you travel goes up.

How does it get applied to the problem? This problem is tough, not because the math is tough, but because it’s tough to figure out how to use the math to solve it. You gotta take it one step at a time and figgure out what’s really goin on here.

Okay, we got a guy walkin’. Same idea as driving, how far = how fast x time. And, we got a woman walking, to. So that’s complicatin’ it up. We got to deal with 2 people walkin’ at once. And a dog, runnin’ back an fo’! Okay, problem with this problem is it’s hard to see. What’s the real question? How far’s the dog go? How do I figure that out?

Hey, this is harder than anythin’ on the GED. So, let’s stretch our minds. To get my mind around it, sketchin’ a picture sometimes helps. Scuse my bad drawin’.

So, the real point is, how far does the dog go? We want to know distance (how far), which is rate times time:

dog distance = rate x time

dog distance = 5 mph x time

Okay, to answer the question, we run into another question… how long does the dog run? He runs from the time they start walkin’ until the two people meet. Now, we gotta answer a second question to answer the first. How long does it take the woman to get to the guy?

We’re usin’ the same formula, an’ tryin’ to find the time it takes for the woman to catch up.

distance = rate x catchup time

The distance they start out is 2 miles:

2 miles = rate x catchup time

What’s the rate? The man is walking at 2 mph, and the woman is walking at 4 mph. She’s catching up to him, but how fast? For every 4 mph she walks, you’ve gotta subtract the 2 mph he’s walked in the same direction during that same time. So, she’s gaining 2 mph on him.

2 miles = (4 mph – 2 mph) x catchup time

2 miles = 2 mph x catchup time

Now, it’s just math. divide each side by 2, and you get:

1 hour = catchup time

How do you know the units are hours? It’s 1 hour, because we’re talkin’ miles and miles per hour. So, one question solved! Now we take the answer and go back to our original question:

dog distance = 5 mph x 1 hour

dog distance = 5 miles

Whew! Dat dog goin’ doggone fast!

For more information about the GED test and GED test preparation, visit The GED Academy at http://www.passGED.com

I am struggling with the math as well. I live in MI and advanced algebra and calculus are required to pass. the thing here is that they make you take pre test before you are allowed to take the real test. And the pre test are unbelievable as well. Determining the height of a sky scraper by the time of day, direction of the sun, and the measurement of it’s shadow??? WTF!

Now, I don’t know exactly what question was on the test, but I know that the GED is famous for “hidden” shape questions. So, when you got a map, or a picture, or a diagram, or anything like that, you got to look for the shape in it. Look for circles, or paralell lines with a line crossing them, or (and here’s what I think’s happening here) RIGHT TRIANGLES. Man, the right triangle is yo’ friend, as soon as you can find one in a diagram, you probably got a pretty good idea what the question REALLY is.

Here was my response…

Hey, Rick! Does Michigan have its own test that’s different from the GED? Cuz the GED don’t really got no calculus on it. It’s got algebra and geometry, sure. And it’s got some confusing stuff.

Let me clue you in on the height-of-the-building idea. At least, I think I know what the question’s getting at, but if I’m wrong, see if you can remember more of the details, and I’ll see if I can hook you up with an answer.

A LOT of questions like that are really geometry questions about right triangles… the good old Pythagorean relationship. That says that one short side (leg) of a right triangle squared, plus the other short side (leg) squared, equals the long side (hypotenuse) squared.

Usually it’s written: a² + b² = c²

This formula is in the front of the GED test booklet. a and b are the sides that make a right angle (like a building and it’s shadow), and c is the long side (like from the end of the shadow to the top of the building).

So, when you’ve got a building and a shadow, the shadow and the building make two sides of a right triangle. You can draw an imaginary line from the end of the shadow to the top of the building to make the hypotenuse (c). If they give you c (the measure from the end of the shadow to the top of the building) and the length of the shadow (a), then you can figure out the height of the building (b).

Look for right triangles in any kind of diagram or map or question about height and distance. You can even use this to find the distance between two points on a graph. You’ll find it pretty much everywhere.

Let me know if you run into any word problems or diagrams that you can’t figure out what they’re REALLY asking for!

For more information about the GED test and GED test preparation, visit The GED Academy at http://www.passGED.com.

Truth is, the GED has word problems because they want to give you more real-life problems…not that all of them are things you might run across every day. But, if you want to figure out how much paint you need for your walls, you need to figure out how to make the calculation first. How do you figure how many gallons of paint you need for your walls?

That’s what the GED wants to test…can you figure out how to solve a math problem that you might run across in real life? Some of ‘em even just give you equations to pick the answer from…not even askin’ if you can solve the equation, but can you tell which one’s the right answer? So that, if you’re shoppin’ and want to figure which box of cereal’s the best deal, or how much paint to cover your walls, or you’re startin’ a business tryin’ to figure out what to price your product, how many you need to sell to make a profit, you’ll be headin’ in the right direction with the right math.

Ok, enough talkin’ about why the GED has word problems. Let’s jump into the practice problem…and here it is…

So, you want to paint two adjacent (next to each other) walls of your bedroom bright red. The bedroom is 10 x 12, and the walls are 8 feet high. One gallon of paint will cover 400 square feet. The paint is sold in quarts, too. You want to buy as little paint as possible. So, what’s the least amount of paint you can buy and still finish the job?

A) 1 quart

B) 2 quarts

C) 3 quarts

D) 1 gallon

D’ya get the answer? Think about it…. this problem’s got a lot of steps to get to the answer.

First thing I’m gonna do is look at how many square feet each of the answers is. 1 gallon covers 400 square feet. Well, there are 4 quarts in a gallon, so each quart covers 100 square feet.

A) 1 quart = 100 square feet

B) 2 quarts = 200 square feet

C) 3 quarts = 300 square feet

D) 1 gallon = 400 square feet

Now, you gotta know how many square feet the job is. Each wall is a rectangle… since they’re next to each other in a 10 x 12 room, one is 10 feet wide, and the other is 12 feet wide. Both of ‘em is 8 feet tall, the height of the room.

So, you’ve got a 10×8 foot wall and a 12×8 food wall.

To get the square feet, just multiply…. 10×8 = 80 square feet and 12×8=80+16=96 square feet (you can do it in your head if you practice). Together, 80 + 96 = 176.

So, 2 quarts will do it, right? That’ll cover your 176 square feet.

Did that make sense? Could you think through it, and keep it all straight? That’s the hard part…

Here is a website I found with practice changing sentences into math problems… maybe that’ll help with the word problems.

Good luck!