Solve Word Problems When We Compare Situations

Key Concepts

• Compare situations.
• Word problems on comparing situations.

Introduction: 

There are 5 brown birds and 3 yellow birds on a tree. 

Are there more brown birds or yellow birds? 

How many more? 

Let us see this: 

Use cubes to compare. 

5 brown birds. 

3 yellow birds. 

Now, we write an equation to compare. 

Subtract 3 from 5, we get 

5 – 3 = ____ 

Now, write the difference between the numbers. 

Subtraction equation is  

5 – 3 = 2 

There are 2 brown birds more than the yellow birds.   

Example: 

There are 6 green books and 4 red books in a bag. 

Are there more green books or red books? 

How many more? 

Use cubes to compare. 

6 green cubes, 

4 red cubes 

One way to compare is, to subtract 4 from 6, we get: 

Now write the difference between the numbers. 

Subtraction equation is  

6 – 4 = 2

There are 2 green books more than the red books in the bag. 

Compare situations in real life: 

A is longer than B. 

We need to find the difference to know how much more. 

Check Our Understanding: 

1. There are 6 green apples, and 4 red apples on the tree. Compare. How many more green apples are there? 
   Answer: 
   6 – 4 = 2 

2. There are 4 birds to the left, and 4 birds to the right. How many more birds are there to the left?  

Answer: 

4 – 4 = 0. 

There is an equal number of birds to the left and right. 

3. There are 7 live, and 5 dead fish in a pond. How many more live fish are there in the pond? 
   Answer: 
   7 – 5 = 2 

4. Observe the picture and find the number of full glasses more than empty glasses. 

Answer: 

5 – 4 = 1 

Exercise

1. There are 3 brown bats, and 2 red bats in a cave. How many more brown bats are there than the red bats?
2. There are 2 flying birds, and 2 birds on a tree. Are the number of flying birds more than the birds on the tree?
3. There are 10 flowers plucked, and 4 flowers to a plant. How many more flowers are plucked than the flowers to the plant?
4. There are 8 seeds planted, and 10 seeds in a pouch. How many more seeds are in the pouch than the seeds planted?
5. There are 6 toys inside a bag, and 5 toys outside of the bag; how many more toys are inside the bag?
6. There are 9 people in a class, and 2 people outside the class. How many more people are there in the class?
7. There are 9 apples on the tree, and 4 apples have fallen; how many more are on the tree?
8. There are 7 cats on a wall, and 5 cats are jumping on the bed; how many more are on the wall? Write the equation.
9. There are 7 bats in the cave, and 3 bats outside the cave; how many more are inside the cave?
10. There are 10 mats in a cupboard, and 5 mats are outside the cupboard; how many more are inside the cupboard?

Concept Map :

What we have learned

• Comparing situation word problems.
• Comparing equation.