Name______

Write the multiplication equation for each word problem using n as the missing factor. Solve the equation using equal groups and determine the unknown factor.

  1. Mr. Smith drives a total of 10 miles to work each week. If Mr. Smith goes to work 5 days per week, how many miles does he drive each day?

10=5xN

N=2

  1. Shaniya has a box of 24 pencils. If she splits her pencils into 4 equal groups, how many pencils will be in each group?

4xN=24

N=6

  1. Isiah walks each of his 3 dogs around the block 2 times. How many times does Isiah go around the block?

3x2=N

  1. Margaret has a box of 15 cookies. She wants to give an equal number of cookies to her 5 children. How many cookies should each child receive?

15=5xN

N=3

Name______

For each word problem, explain whether the multiplication equation used is correct.

  1. If every spider has 8 legs, how many legs will 4 spiders have?

8x4=n

The above equation is valid. 8 represents the number of spiders and 4 represents the number of legs each spider has. 8 equal groups of 4 is the number of legs that 8 spiders would have which is 36.

  1. There are 18 people standing in line to buy tickets. If there are 3 lines with an equal number of people in each line, how many people are in one line?

2xn=18

This equation is invalid. While the product 18 is correct, their were 3 lines with an equal number of people (N). The first factor (2) should be a 3, making the equation 3xN=18.

  1. Mrs. Collins bought 20 ice pops for her reading groups. If she has an equal number of students in each of 5 groups, how many students does she have in each group?

10xn=20

This equation is invalid. The product is correct, however, there are 5 equal groups so the first factor in the equation should be 5, making the appropriate equation 5xN=20.

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