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In this article, you will learn how to solve two-step multiplication and division word problems. These problems are specially formulated for year 3 or 4 students. At the end of the article, you can download some worksheets that contain these word problems for practice.
Two-Step Word Problems
Students can find it hard to solve two-step word problems because they need to figure out what should be solved first and what should be solved in the second step of the problem. The majority of the two-step multiplication problems entail a multiplication step followed by an addition or subtraction step. However, this is not true for all multiplication problems. Let us solve some two-step multiplication and division word problems below.
Two-Step Multiplication and Division Word Problems Examples
Example 1
Ali bought 5 packets of chocolates to distribute among his friends at school. Each packet had 4 pairs of chocolates. How many chocolates did Ali buy, if each pair has 2 chocolates in it?
Solution
Step 1: In this step, we will calculate the total number of pairs of chocolates in all 5 packets. To calculate this, we will utilize information such as the total packets of available chocolate packets and the number of pairs of chocolates in each packet.
Total packets of chocolates = 5
Pairs of chocolates in a single packet = 4
Number of pairs of chocolates in all the 5 packets = 5 x 4 = 20
Step 2: In this step, we will calculate the total number of chocolates Ali bought. For this, we will utilize the information we got from the previous step and the number of chocolates in each pair.
Each pair comprises 2 chocolates
Total number of chocolates Ali bought = 20 x 2 = 40 chocolates
Hence, the correct answer is that Ali bought 40 chocolates to distribute among his friends.
Example 2
Sam bought 12 bags of colourful balls which he divided fairly among 4 kids. When the kids opened the bags, they found 5 balls in each bag. How many balls did each kid get?
Solution
Step 1: In this step, we will calculate the number of bags of balls each kid got. To calculate this, we will utilize information such as the total number of bags and the number of kids among which these bags were distributed from the problem.
Total number of bags containing colourful bags = 12
Number of kids among which the bags were distributed = 4
Bags of balls each kid got = 12 ÷ 4 = 3 bags
Step 2: Now, that we know how many bags each kid got, we will calculate the number of balls in each bag.
Number of balls in each bag = is 5
Total number of balls each kid got = 5 x 3 = 15 balls
Hence, each kid got 15 balls.
Example 3
There are a total of 8 tables in the cafeteria and 6 people are sitting around each table. The chef of the cafeteria decides to give a free dessert to every 2 people at the table which they would share. How many desserts should he prepare?
Solution
Step 1: In this step, we will find out how many people are present in the cafeteria. To calculate this, we will utilize information such as the total number of tables and people sitting around each table from the problem.
Total number of tables in the cafeteria = 8
Number of people sitting around each table = 6
Total number of people in the cafeteria = 8 x 6 = 48
Step 2: Now that we know the total number of people sitting in the cafeteria, we will figure out the number of desserts that should be prepared by the chef.
The chef decides to give a free dessert to every 2 people
Total number of people is 48. Hence, the chef should prepare 48 ÷ 2 = 24 desserts.
Example 4
The teacher decided to give each of her 15 students in class 4 colourful markers for a class activity. She bought the markers set and each set had 6 markers in it. How many sets of markers did she buy?
Solution
Step 1: In this step, we will calculate the total number of markers the teacher decided to distribute among her students. To calculate this, we will utilize information such as number of students in the class and the number of markers each student will get.
Total number of students in the class = 15
The number of markers each student will get = is 4
Total number of markers for all the students = 15 x 4 = 60 markers
Step 2: In this step, we need to calculate the number of markers sets the teacher bought for her students. To calculate this, we will utilize the information from the previous step and the number of markers in each set.
Total number of markers for all the students = 60
Number of markers in each set = 6
Number of sets teacher bought = 60 ÷ 6 = 10
Hence, the teacher bought 10 sets of markers for all 15 students.
Example 5
There are 5 floors in a hotel building. The ground floor has the reception, gym and children's play area. Rooms are available from 1st to 4th floor and each floor has 9 rooms in it. Each room can accommodate a maximum of 3 people only. On Saturday, each room of the hotel was full up to its maximum capacity. How many total people were staying in the hotel on Saturday?
Solution
Step 1: In this step, we will calculate the total number of rooms present in the hotel building. To calculate this, we will use information such as the number of floors with rooms and total number of rooms on each floor.
Number of floors having rooms = 4
Number of rooms on each floor = 9
Total number of rooms in the building = 9 x 4 = 36
Step 2: In this step, we need to calculate the number of people present in the building on Saturday, given that each room was full up to its maximum capacity. To calculate this, we will utilize the information from the previous step and the maximum number of people who can live in each room.
Total number of rooms in the hotel building = 36
Number of people each room can accommodate = 3
Number of people present in the hotel building when all the rooms are full up to their maximum capacity = 36 x 3 = 108 people
Hence, 108 people were present in the building on Saturday.
Example 6
Alice has $50 in her bag. She goes shopping and decides to buy 4 packs of hair clips. Each pack has 5 clips in it and each cost around \$0.75. How much money is left with Alice after buying the packs of hair clips?
Solution
Step 1: In this step, we need to calculate the total cost incurred by Alice when she bought all 4 packs of hair clips. For this, we will utilize the information from the problem such as the total number of clips she bought and the price of each clip. You can see that we need to calculate the total number of clips bought by Alice from the problem.
Number of hair clips packs she wants to buy = 4
Number of hair clips present in each pack = 5
Total number of hair clips Alice intends to buy = 4 x 5 = 20 clips
Price of each clip = \$0.75
Cost incurred by Alice in buying the 20 clips = 20 x \$0.75 = \$15
Step 2: In this step, we need to calculate the amount of money Alice has after she buys the 4 packs of clips. For this, we will use the information from the previous step and subtract it from the amount Alice had in her bag when she went shopping.
Cost of 20 clips = \$15
Amount of money Alice had when she went shopping = \$50
Amount of money Alice has after buying the 4 packs of clips = \$50 - \$15 = \$35
Hence, Alice has \$35 left in her bag after she bought 4 packs of hair clips.
Hope you enjoyed solving the above examples which were explained in detail. Want to practice more? Well, we have some downloadable worksheets that you can use to practice two-step multiplication and division word problems. So, happy practice!
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3^x -2^y+2=10
2^x-3^x-2=2