Word Problem Solving Strategies

Guess and Check

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Some problems cannot be solved directly. You need to use a strategy called Guess and Check.

Prince Carl divided 15 stone games into two piles: games he owns and games his brother owns. He owns 3 more games than his brother. How many games does his brother own?

• I'll guess his brother owns 8 games.
• That means Prince Carl owns 11 games. That's a total of 19 games.
• My guess is too high.
• I'll guess again. This time I'll guess his brother owns 6 games.
• That means Prince Carl owns 9 games. That's a total of 15 games.
• My guess is right.
• His brother owns 6 games.

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