What number is six times greater than 10?

[CurlyhairedAssassin]

Can't quite get my head round the wording of the question but we have an answer- can I check it with you lot please?

Yr 3

Mirtzapine: please don't confuse the issue.

I think I'd go 70. But it's probably 60 and is badly worded.

ThatBloodyWoman - That comes from the word "greater than". If the answer is 60, the question should not have those words but should simply ask "What number is six times 10?".

Think of it this way:

Q: What is 50% of 10?
A: 50/100 x 10 = 1/2 x 10 = 5

Q: What number is 50% greater than 10?
A: 10 + (50/100 x 10) = 15

Curly - Those other questions are pretty badly worded, too.

"Find the total of 22 and 19", for example, should be "Find the sum of 22 and 19".

Where is kim147? This is definitely her kind of thread :)

60?

Côte: Quite. It's a photocopied exercise from a book. Would love to know which book.

sum and total are both maths vocab that they would be expected to know and use. Hence why the question is asking for the total here. The homework looks like it is one checking their understanding of different maths vocab.

70

(if you thought it was 60, then you would have to say that "once greater than 10" was 10. Which is not greater. 10 is "no greater than 10)

the wording has been deliberately constructed to avoid sensible wording such as "add" "subtract" "multiply" and "divide" in order to obscure the meaning of what the examiner has in mind.

Terrible wording.
I'd say 6 X >10 = >60
but I imagine what they want is just 60.
Just plain confusing.

Hulababy - Sure, "sum" and "total" are both part of math vocabulary, but you wouldn't say "Find the total of 22 and 19". You would say, for example, "There are 22 apples and 19 pears. Find the total number of fruits we have".

When you want to ask "Find the _ of 22 and 19", the missing word is "sum".

The rest of the questions aren't any better:

Q: Decrease 5000 by 450
A: OK, I decreased it. Now what?

I know they are not ideal examples. But I suspect it is a pre-prepared sheet. Even those on the SATs papers are often not written any better.

Bloody hell, I'm not looking forward to ds starting maths at school. I didn't think I'd have problems understanding homework at primary level!

cafecito I came up with that as well before I'd read the thread, just the question. You are not alone. Wrong maybe, but not alone!

Well I think it's 60. 70 is not 6 times greater than 10. That makes no sense.

so what do you think "one time greater than ten" would be?

From the wording I would say 70 but I think that as it's for y3 they mean 6x10, it's badly worded . We have come across this a number of times with home word , we've always let dc do the answer they think then added a note to take in with the homework saying while looking over the home work we found the way this question was worded to be ambigus as it cove have meant way a /b . Most teacher then corrected the homework sheets before giving them out again.

maybe we are right, alone and right

probably means 600% of 10, so 60, though 10 million is I think a more interesting answer

Cote thank you!

I kind of get it now....

(Still think it's 60 though )

There is no right answer to the question because the terms "greater than" and "times" are incompatible.

"Greater than" refers to a subtractive difference: 60 is 50 greater than 10.

"times" refers to an operation of multiplication: 60 is 6 times 10.

Don't let the teacher try to persuade you otherwise.

And CoteDAzur is right about the other questions too.

The homework looks like it is one checking their understanding of different maths vocab.

It looks like that is what it is intended to do, but unfortunately it was written by someone that clearly does not understand the terms that are being used. Unfortunately this is not unusual with KS2 resources.

Dagnabbit, I didn't get to see our Head of maths today to ask her.

However I am going with rediddi's response (and others) that it is incorrectly worded. I wonder whether DS's teacher will agree?

I asked about 10 people today, including DC and they all answered 60 straight away.

"the terms "greater than" and "times" are incompatible"

Yes, I agree that the question as worded in the thread title is not meaningful.

A meaningful question including the two terms is not impossible, though. See below.

Q: Which whole numbers are greater than six times ten?
A: 6 x 10 = 60, and so the answer is "All whole numbers 61 and above".