Coded worded problems are common in numerical reasoning. Here's an overall process that you can take (we'll get into specifics in the following checkpoints).

Worded questions can involve a number of things such as:

• Fractions and its various forms
• Distance and length
• Finding an unknown or multiple unknown variables.

It is assume that you know basic mathematics (e.g. fractions, geometry etc…) if not, then do the mathematics course to bring yourself up to speed.

The most important part in this checkpoint is getting use to the process of converting fully worded questions into simple to digest notation that you can solve.

Let's do some example questions to show this process in motion:

Question 1

There are 38 cards in a deck. The difference between the number of red cards and the number of black cards is 8. There are more black cards than red cards.How many black cards and red cards are there in the deck?

A 23 black cards and 15 red cards B 30 black cards and 38 red cards C 15 black cards and 23 red cards D 22 black cards and 16 red cards

Question 2

In five minutes, Printer 1 can print 150 pages. In two minutes, Printer 2 can print 50 pages. If they start printing together, how many more pages will one printer have printed than the other after 8 minutes?

A 15 B 40 C 50 D 75

Question 3
Rose can write 3 pages in 12 minutes. Eric can write 12 pages in 30 minutes.If they start writing together, how many more pages will one have written than the other after 20 minutes?

A 1 B 2 C 3 D 9

Question 4

Rachel drives her car 5 kilometres East, then 2 kilometres South, then 8 kilometres West and then 2 kilometres North. How far from the start is she?

A 3 kilometres B 5 kilometres C 8 kilometres D 17 kilometres

Key Rules to remember:

• Read the question carefully – understand/notate

  • Key elements for which there is a value attached e.g. apples > $3, apples = $3, apples < $3
  • Use shorthand to denote
  • Apples = a, a > 3, a = 3, a < 3

• Find the operations that you need to connect the elements together. For example, are you supposed to use addition to connect them together to find the solution? Subtraction? Multiplication? Division?

• Select the final answer – if in doubt, look at the solution options for hints.

Now it's time to do your assignment.

1. Download the assignment question here.
2. Print it out or if you want to do it electronically, save it.
3. Complete the questions to it.
4. Then check the solutions on the video below.
5. For the answers in text instead of video, download them here.