GUESS AND

CHECK
Is a problem solving
strategy that students can
use to solve mathematical
problems by guessing the
answer and then checking
that the guess fits the
conditions of the problem.
 GUESS AND
CHECK
• Solving problems using guess and check is a process that requires
logic and an understanding of the question so that it can be done in
a way that is organized and time saving.
• So what does guess and check mean? To be more specific, this
strategy should be called, “Guess, Check and Revise.”
• The basic structure of the strategy looks like this:
> Form an educated guess
> Check your solution to see if it works and solves the problem
> If not, revise your guess based on whether it is too high or too
low
Sample
Problem
A farmer has cows
and chickens on her
farm. Together the
animals have 50
heads and 172 legs.
How many cows are
there?
SOLUTIO You can use this solution
for younger students
N
COWS CHICKEN TOTAL
(4 legs) (2 legs) LEGS
25 x 4 25 x 2 150
30 x 4 20 x 2 160
35 x 4 15 x 2 170
36 x 4 14 x 2 172
Note: You can use other strategy to solve this problem.
SOLUTIO Older students may use
algebra to solve this
N problem.

You can use these two equations to solve the given

a  b  50
2a  4b  172
 SIMILAR
problems
FOUL FARMYARD
A farmyard was full of cows and hens.
Altogether there were 36 heads and 100 legs
in the farmyard. How many cows were there?

CYCLE CLUES
There are bicycles and tricycles parked in
front of the church . Altogether there are 23
drivers and 50 wheels. How many bikes and
how many trikes are there?
 Exercise 1: Solve the following and show your complete solution

1.Lawrence has 4 coins in his pocket. The coins have a value of 50 cents. What coins are
in Lawrence’s pocket?
2.Of the 63 fifth graders in Wilson School, there are 3 more boys than girls. How many
boys and how many girls are fifth-graders in Wilson School?
3.Carmen told James, “I am thinking of a 2-digit number. The digit in the tens place is
greater than the digit in the ones place. The sum of its digits is 12. The product of its
digits is 35.” What number is Carmen thinking of?
4.James told Carmen, “I am thinking of a 3-digit number. The sum of the digits in its
hundreds and tens places is 8. The sum of the digits in its tens and ones places is 4. The
product of its digits is 15.” What number is James thinking of?
5.Melanie gave her mother a bouquet of 24 flowers. The bouquet was made up of roses,
carnations, and daisies. There were twice as many daisies as roses. There were 3 times
as many carnations as roses. How many of each kind of flower were in the bouquet?
6.Paul rolled a number cube 4 times. He rolled a different number each time. The
product of his numbers was 48. The sum of his numbers was 13. What numbers did
Paul roll?
 Using
FormulaIs a problem solving
strategy that students can
use to find answers to math
problems. To solve these
problems, students must
choose the appropriate
formula and substitute
data in the correct places of
a formula
 Using
Formula
• Using a Formula is a problem-solving
strategy that students can use to find
answers to math problems involving
geometry, percents, measurement,
or algebra. To solve these problems,
students must choose the appropriate
formula and substitute data in the
correct places of a formula.
 Sample
Problems
What is the area of a square
whose perimeter is 80 cm?
Three squares of side 7 cm are
placed side by side without overlap
to form one rectangle. What is the
area of the rectangle made?
 Problem 2
• A rectangle has an area of 40 square meters. If the
perimeter of the rectangle is 26 meters, what are the
length and the width of the rectangle?
Solution: A = L x W
40 = L x W
40 = 8 x 5
P = 2L + 2W
26 = 2L + 2W
26 + 2(8) + 2(5)
Therefore: the length and width of the rectangle, 5 meters
and 8 meters
Exercise 2: Solve the following and show your complete solution
1. The side of a square is 15. What is the perimeter?
2. If the temperature is 50 degrees F, what is it in Celsius?
3. If the width of a rectangle is 10, and its perimeter is 50, what is its length?
4. At what temperature are the Celsius reading and the Fahrenheit reading
equal?
5. If the area of a triangle is 42 square units, and its height is 7 units, what is
the length of its base?
6. If a car travels 200 miles at a rate of 40 mph, how long did it take?
7. The circumference of a circle is 50.26548. What is its radius?
8. The width of a rectangle is 12 units, and its length is 4 less than its width.
What is its perimeter?
9. The angles in a triangle are x, 2x, and 3x. What is the measure of the
triangle's largest angle?
10.Find the volume of a room cube? that is 20 feet long, 15 feet wide, and 9
feet high.