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

Kerry you're looking for the highest common multiple: the largest number than can go into both.

So for example 1 would go into both, as would 5.

But the answer is actually 15.
4 x 15 = 60
7 x 15 = 105

Is it 15 cm, because that is the largest common denominator of both 60cm and 105 cm? There would be 4 blocks in the 60cm pile and 7 in the 105 cm pile. It has to be a multiple of 5 (105) and it can't be 20, 25 or 30, as none of them go into 105.

I could be very wrong though as I am not a great mathematician.

Oops, Roisin just beat me to it!

Keryy, one pile is 4 blocks high (4x15cm=60cm) and the other is 7 blocks high (7x15cm=105cm).

Start witgh the fact that you know x is half z and z is 1 1/4 more than x.

So...
v = 1kg
w = 1 1/2
x = 1 1/4
y = 2
z = 2 1/2

Drat! Too slow... but agree very hard for a 7 year old.

Kerrymum, I think the question is asking you (or your son!) to find the size of the block that the piles are made from, not the dimensions of the two piles put together. The wording might be a bit confusing.

So if one tower is 60cm high and the other 105cm high, what is the biggest size of block they could both be made from? They could both be made from 1cm blocks (60 and 105 blocks respectively) or from 5cm blocks (12 and 21 blocks respectively), but they could also be made from 15cm blocks - so that is the biggest.

These questions make me want to lie down in a darkened room.
I am horrified.

OK, promise I haven't read beyond the OP...

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

The key is realising that if z is 1 1/4 more than x, then x must be 1 1/4 since it's half of z. It's easy after that.

Pretty tricky though for a 7 year old!

Now I bet I'll read the thread and realise I'm embarassingly wrong!

Yay I was right!

OP - is your child at state school or privately educated?

op do me mean me??

Private

I could only do it by drawing a bar graph starting with z - but it took a lot of thinking about. Dare I ask: is this homework from a state primary school or a private school? Apologies if this was stated further up but I was concentrating too hard on the maths to notice.

Balls & I had the same thought simultaneously! Just can't imagine even state primary Year 6s being able to work that out - although my dd's not exactly a mathematical genius; scary!

Beetrootcio - I asked because the (state)homework my 8 year old gets is much much simpler eg about multiplying by 10 or fractions of a classroom of 28 kids. They are oviously working at a completely different level!

I really didn't think they were tbh. She is very good at Maths - and does extended maths - but even this defeated her

You know, as someone said earlier on this is more of a logic problem than a maths one. Most people's first thought was to turn to algebra, but presumably your DD hasn't done algebra yet (?) so I figured it must be something simpler, which it was. The rest of the problem is simple after that but it would take an eagle-eyed 7 year old to spot it. I suspect your DD was trying to overcomplicate it?

as was I and ds2 who is 11!!

this is stupid
adn very old fashioned maths tbh

As was I for quite a while! and DH! And I don't think I'd have got it at age 7. Will you let us know what your DD's teacher says if you mention it to her?

yes I will - i will see her tomorrow