Solve Word Problems Involving Distance and Length

Students use addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division to solve one- and multi-step word problems involving distances and lengths, including problems that require unit conversions. Students represent the problem situation with equations and diagrams.

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Grade 4 · Measurement Word Problems · question 1 of 3

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20 rungs. A star at the top.

Leo walks 3 meters to a bench, then 45 centimeters to a fountain. How many centimeters did he walk in all?

How it is taught

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Length problems need the same unit before you compute.

A kilometer is 1000 meters.

Read it: Same unit first, then jump

A trail is 1 km and then 275 m. Change 1 km to 1000 m first. Then jump 275 on from 1000: the trail is 1275 m.

Write every amount in the same unit: the smaller one.
Start at the first amount on the line.
Jump on to add, or jump back to take away, and read where you land.

A kilometer and a meter are different sizes, so 1 and 275 cannot be added as they are.

1 km is 1000 m, so both amounts are then counted in meters.

The jumps show the amounts added or taken away, and the landing is the answer.

Change to the smaller unit, then add or take away.

Adding 1 + 275 = 276, as if the units were the same.

1 km is 1000 m. 1000 + 275 = 1275 m.

A path is 2 km long. Leo has walked 650 m. How many meters are left? — 1350. 2 km = 2000 m, and 2000 − 650 = 1350 m.

2 km − 750 m

Sam is hiking a two-kilometer trail. He has already walked seven hundred fifty meters. How much further does he have to go?

Let's draw Sam's trail as a number line so we can see the whole journey.

The trail is measured in kilometers, but Sam's distance is in meters. To compare them, we need the same unit. Remember: one kilometer equals one thousand meters.

So two kilometers is two thousand meters.

Sam has walked seven hundred fifty meters — about a third of the way.

To find what's left, we subtract what he walked from the whole trail: two thousand minus seven hundred fifty.

Two thousand minus seven hundred fifty equals one thousand two hundred fifty.

That's the part of the trail Sam still has to walk.

Grade 4 · Two-step problem with unit conversion

Sam has one thousand two hundred fifty meters left. Great problem-solving!

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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