One-step equations – word problems

One-step equations can also be communicated in the form of word problems. The only difference between mathematically expressed equations and word problems is that, in word problems, you have to recognize the variable and other elements of the equation yourself. The easiest way to explain this would be using an example. So let us try with this one.

An example of one-step equations with word problems

Let us imagine that you are working as a computer programmer in a company that makes computer games. You are getting paid 50$ per hour and at the end of the day, you earned 400$. How many hours did you have to work to earn that kind of money?

The first thing we have to do is to recognize the variable. In this case, it would be the hours that we had to work to earn that wage. We will mark it using the letter „X“ (you can use whatever letter you want).

50 * X = 400

Your hourly wage is on the left side with the variable because you have to work „X“ hours a day while being paid 50$ per hour to earn your daily wage of 400$ (which is on the right side of the equation). Since this is a one-step equation, the only thing left to do is to get rid of the number in front of our variable so we can find the value of „X“. We can do that by dividing the whole equation by 50.

50 * X = 400 |: 50

X = 8

You can see now that the number of hours you have to work to earn 400$ if you are being paid 50$ per hour is 8. This is the value of our „X“ and the solution of our word problem.

Knowing how to mathematically express and solve word problems has genuine real world applications and you will use those skills very often during the course of your everyday life. Therefore, it is important that you feel comfortable using them. To master solving word problems with one-step equations, download the worksheets below and practice solving them on your own.

One-step equations – word problems exams for teachers

One-step equations – word problems worksheets for students