Chapter 21
Making Formulas Work in Basic Story Problems
IN THIS CHAPTER
Working with perimeter, area, and volume
Tackling geometric structures
Moving along with distance problems
Making interest interesting
Algebra allows you to solve problems. Not all problems — it won’t help with that noisy neighbor — but problems involving how to divvy up money equitably or make things fit in a room. In this chapter, you find some practical applications for algebra. You may not be faced with the exact situations I use in this chapter, but you should find some skills that will allow you to solve the story problems or practical applications that are special to your situation.
Algebra students often groan and moan when they see story problems. You “feel their pain,” you say? It’s time to put the myth to bed that story problems are too challenging. You know you’re facing a story problem when you see a bunch of words followed by a question. And the trick to doing story problems is quite simple: Change the words into a solvable equation, solve that equation (now a familiar friend), and then answer ...
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