Solve Unit Rate Word Problems

Students solve real-world problems involving unit rates, including finding the best buy, computing speed, and determining rates of work. They identify the unit rate, set up the appropriate equation, and interpret the solution in context.

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Grade 6 · Ratios and Rates · question 1 of 3

0 of 20

20 rungs. A star at the top.

12 words in 6 minutes = words per minute

How it is taught

0:00 of 4:22

A unit rate is the amount for 1 of something.

Find that rate first, then multiply for a new time.

Read it: The rate for 1

24 beats in 6 seconds is a tape of 24 cut into 6 equal parts, 1 for each second. 1 part is 24 ÷ 6 = 4: 4 beats per second.

Cut the total into equal parts, 1 for each unit: 6 parts for 6 seconds.
Share the total over the parts: 24 ÷ 6.
Name the rate for 1: 4 beats per second.

Each part holds the same amount, so 1 part is the amount for 1 second.

A unit rate makes any time easy: 4 beats each second, for as many seconds as you like.

The first word of the rate says what is shared: beats per second is beats ÷ seconds.

A unit rate is the amount for 1: the total ÷ the number of equal parts.

Dividing 6 by 24 and writing 0.25 beats per second.

Beats per second shares the beats over the seconds: 24 ÷ 6 = 4.

77 words in 7 minutes = ___ words per minute — 11. 77 ÷ 7 = 11 words in each minute.

150 miles in 3 hours

A car drives one hundred fifty miles in three hours. How fast is it going?

A unit rate tells us how much for just ONE — one hour, one pound, one item.

Let's set up a ratio table. We have one hundred fifty miles in three hours.

We want to know how many miles the car goes in just ONE hour.

To turn three hours into one hour, we divide by three.

Whatever we do to one side, we do to the other. So we divide the miles by three too.

One hundred fifty divided by three is fifty.

So fifty miles for every one hour — that's our unit rate.

Grade 6 · Find the speed as a unit rate

The car is traveling fifty miles per hour. Nice work!

What you see

While they climb, your page writes one true line to ask about tonight, and a short note each Sunday.

MayaGrade 3 · Mathematics

Did you know?

A chessboard has 64 squares — share them out between the 8 rows and each row holds exactly 8.

Today’s goal: 1 star — one skill mastered, every rung of its ladder climbed
Climbing now: Divide within 100

An example student.

MayaGrade 3 · Mathematics

Maya earned 2 stars this week — Interpret multiplication as equal groups, which took 6 answers over 3 days before its star landed 3 days ago and Multiply by 6, 7, 8 and 9. Next up: Divide within 100.

An example week.

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