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Flower pots rearranged in rows — the nursery
In a garden nursery, flower pots were arranged in rows with exactly 15 pots in each row. The gardener bought 10 more pots and rearranged all the pots. There are now exactly 10 pots in each row and 8 more rows than before. How many flower pots are there in the nursery now?
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The pattern behind it: Gap and difference
Share the same things two ways. One way leaves too many, the other too few.
In this one. The extra rows' capacity minus the pots actually added is the number of pots redistributed from the old rows.
How to spot it
Objects are grouped two different ways with a leftover in one arrangement and a shortage in the other, using words like 'left over' and 'short of'.
Common mistake
Children combine the leftover and the shortfall in the wrong direction. The gap must then be divided by the difference in group size, not by either group size.
Try one like it
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All 33 patterns, one to a page — the 19 behind Primary 5 and 6 word problems, and the skills the younger years are built on. The bar model, how to spot it in the question, and the mistake children make. A booklet you can print. Free.
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