4th-Grade Math Word Problems

Students can practice their skills with free printables

Math Student
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By the time they reach the fourth grade, most students have developed some reading and analyzing ability. Yet, they may still be intimidated by math word problems. They needn't be. Explain to students that answering most word problems in the fourth grade generally involves knowing the basic math operations—addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division—and understanding when and how to use simple math formulas to improve math skills. 

Explain to students that you can find the rate (or speed) that someone is traveling if you know the distance and time that she traveled. Conversely, if you know the speed (rate) that a person is traveling as well as the distance, you can calculate the time he traveled. You simply use the basic formula: rate times the time equals distance, or r * t = d (where "*" is the symbol for times). In the worksheets below, students work the problems and fill their answers in the provided blank spaces. The answers are provided for you, the teacher, on a duplicate worksheet that you can access and print out in the second slide after the students' worksheet.

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Worksheet No. 1

math word problems worksheet

On this worksheet, students will answer questions such as: "Your favorite Aunt is flying to your house next month. She’s coming from San Francisco to Buffalo. It’s a 5-hour flight and she lives 3,060 miles away from you. How fast does the plane go?" and "On the 12 days of Christmas, how many gifts did the ‘True Love’ receive? (Partridge in a Pear Tree, 2 Turtle Doves, 3 French Hens, 4 Calling Birds, 5 Golden Rings etc.) How can you show your work?"

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Worksheet No. 1 Solutions

math word problems

This printable is a duplicate of the worksheet in the previous slide, with the answers to the problems included. If the students are struggling, walk them through the first two problems. For the first problem, explain that students are given the time and distance that the aunt is flying, so they only need to determine the rate (or speed).

Tell them that since they know the formula, r * t = d, they merely need to adjust to isolate "r." They can do this by dividing each side of the equation by "t," which yields the revised formula r = d ÷ t  (rate or how fast the aunt is traveling = the distance she traveled divided by the time). Then just plug in the numbers: r = 3,060 miles ÷ 5 hours = 612 mph.

For the second problem, students merely need to list all of the presents given on the 12 days. They can either sing the song (or sing it as a class), and list the numbers of presents given each day, or look the song up on the internet. Adding the number of presents (1 partridge in a pear tree, 2 turtle doves, 3 French hens, 4 calling birds, 5 golden rings etc.) yields the answer 78.

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Worksheet No. 2

math word problems

The second worksheet offers problems that require a bit of reasoning, such as: "Jade has 1281 baseball cards. Kyle has 1535. If Jade and Kyle combine their baseball cards, how many cards will there be? Estimate___________ Answer___________ ." To solve the problem, students need to estimate ​and list their answer in the first blank, and then add the actual numbers to see how close they came.

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Worksheet No 2 Solutions

math word problems

To solve the problem listed in the previous slide, students need to know rounding. For this problem, you would round 1,281 either down to 1,000 or up to 1,500, and you would round 1,535 down to 1,500, yielding estimate answers of 2,500 or 3,000 (depending on which way the students rounded 1,281). To obtain the exact answer, students would merely add the two numbers: 1,281 + 1,535 = 2,816.

Note that this addition problem requires carrying and regrouping, so review this skill if your students are struggling with the concept.

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Your Citation
Russell, Deb. "4th-Grade Math Word Problems." ThoughtCo, Apr. 5, 2023, thoughtco.com/4th-grade-math-word-problems-worksheets-2312648. Russell, Deb. (2023, April 5). 4th-Grade Math Word Problems. Retrieved from https://www.thoughtco.com/4th-grade-math-word-problems-worksheets-2312648 Russell, Deb. "4th-Grade Math Word Problems." ThoughtCo. https://www.thoughtco.com/4th-grade-math-word-problems-worksheets-2312648 (accessed March 29, 2024).