My 7 year old daughters Maths homework is beyond me...

[Beetrootccio]

can you do it and if so tell me how

Parcel V is 1/4 kg lighter than x
Parcel W is 1/2kg heavier than v
parcel x is half the mass of z
Parcel y is double the mass of v
Parcel z is 1 1/4 more than X

What is the mass of each parcel

OMG

holy crap

god I hat stuff like that,thank god dh is a whizz at maths!
sorry can't help you

dh to but he is away!!!

eek. Reminds me why I never liked maths! I never minded the basic sums but when they try and give it some kind of relevance to real life , ie. Farmer A does this and Farmer B does that... I just switched off.

i would be tempted to write to the school and tell them that your child canot do this homework and as there has been no explaination given to work out the maths, you can't help her either.

that seems a bit hard for a 7yo! (or maybe it's just too hard for me!)

determined to work it out with her. Surely you just have to get one and then you are fine

Right, I may be wrong, but here goes:
Firstly, this is what we know:

v = x + 1/4
w = v + 1/2
x = .5 * Z
y = 2v
Z = x + 1 1/4

Now we know Z is double x, so if z = x + 1 1/4, that must mean x = 1 1/4.
If we plug that back into what we know we get:

v = x + 1/4 = 1 1/4 + 1/4 = 1 1/2
w = v + 1/2 = 1 1/2 + 1/2 = 2
x = .5 * Z = 1 1/4
y = 2v = 2 x 1 1/2 = 3
Z = x + 1 1/4 = 1 1/4 + 1 1/4 = 2 1/2

does that look right?

If parcel Z is 1 1/4 kgmore than x and x is half the ass of Z then Z must be 2 1/2kg??

Waynetta! That makes my brain fold.

This is for a 7 YEAR OLD???????

[thunk]

got it!

v = 1
w = 1 1/2
x = 1 1/4
y = 3
z = 2 1/2

Is your dd a genius and in yr 9?

oops - just saw v os LIGHTER than x, so V should be x - 1/4 which is 1

y = 2

year 3 and struggled with it - will talk to teacher at parents evening

thank you gotta rush

I am not going to attempt it personally

but we've got some conflicting results for v and w. So far.

I am SO impressed anyone could get their brain around it at all TBH.

oops! i added instead of multiplied!
right hands up everyone with a bachelors degree or higher?
And a SEVEN year old is supposed to get this??!!!

I have a phD but not in maths and I couldn't face it at all!

How does she say she has to do them .. the problem is she might have learnt a different way of doing it so

I can put the words into equations I think

V = x - 0.25 Kg
W = V + 0.5 kg
X = z/2 (although mass is not the same as weight)
Y= 2 * V
Z = X * 1.25

if you do it that way though you've got

X = Z/2
at the same time as
Z=X*1.25

which is impossible so they must have the true meaning of mass which means the X = Z/2 is incorrect

the answer is NO I can't do it

and I think if your daughter can't do it .. you go and ask the teacher

scary stuff

You start from the third and fifth statements. I presume the fifth should read 'Parcel Z is one and a quarter kg heavier than x', because if it's one and a quarter times the weight of x, the third and fifth statements are incompatible.

Let x be the weight of parcel X etc.

z = x +1.25 (fifth statement - sorry, I've switched to decimals because I can't see how else to do fractions on my keyboard!)

z = 2x (third statement)

Combining the above,

2x = x + 1.25
x = 1.25
z = 2.5

Now use first statement:

v = 1.25 - 0.25 = 1

Now use second statement:

w = 1 + 0.5 = 1.5

Now use fourth statement

y = 2

So
Parcel V weiths 1kg
Parcel W weighs 1.5kg
Parcel X weighs 1.25kg
Parcel Y weighs 2kg
Parcel Z weighs 2.5kg

OMG I am definitely not going back to the UK with dd . I couldn't face homework like this all the time! I'd rather suffer through the German case endings I think...

oops messed up

X = Z +1.25
and Z = X/2

so Z = X - 1.25
and Z = X/2
means that X = 2.5
and Z = 1.25

then you take those figures and put them in the other equasions

V = x - 0.25 Kg means V = 2.5 - 0.25 = 2.25

W = V + 0.5 kg means W = 2.25 +0.5 = 2.75

X = z/2 = 2.5 (as above)

Y= 2 V = 2 2.25 = 4.5