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Question P4–P5–P6 Gap and difference

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Library shelves — more books, fewer per shelf

In a library, books were arranged on shelves with exactly 8 books on each shelf. The librarian brought 4 more books into the library and rearranged all the books. There are now exactly 6 books on each shelf and 10 more shelves than before. How many books are there in the library now?

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About this method

Gap and difference

Share the same things two ways. One way leaves too many, the other too few.

In this one. The 10 extra shelves need 60 books, but only 4 books are new, so the other 56 books must be the 2 books freed from each old shelf.

5 to a row3 chairs left over4 rowsfive chairs in eachspare3 chairs with no row7 to a row5 places short4 rowsseven in each — wider rowsgaps5 empty places, not 5 chairsThe swing3 over + 5 short = 8per roweach row gains 2, so 8 ÷ 2 = 4 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.

Practise a similar question

Challenging In a school hall, chairs were arranged in rows such that there were exactly 9 chairs in each row. For a concert, Mr Ong brought 6 more chairs into the school hall and rearranged all the chairs. There are now exactly 7 ch…
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