10 Math Problem Solving Activities for Middle School

8. Wild Dog

Next up on the list of math problem-solving activities for middle school follows – over a five-day span, a wild dog ate a total of 105 nuts.  Each day, the dog devoured eight more nuts than he had on the day before.  How many nuts did the dog eat on each of the five days?

Knowing that the dog ate an additional 8 nuts each day, you can multiply 8 nuts by 5 days to get a total of 40.  105-40=65 and 65/5=13.  Your students now know that the first day’s nuts can’t be more than 13.  Subtracting 13 from the 8 nuts that the dog ate, you get 5, the amount eaten on the first day.  So, the dog ate 5 the first day, 13 the second day, 21 the third day, 29 the fourth day, and 37 the fifth day.

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