Maths Problems and Investigations

Maths Problems and Investigations – Lower Secondary is designed to support

students who need practice to build their skills and strategies. The engaging
problem-solving activities take students through a deliberate process of reading
the problem, identifying relevant information, selecting appropriate strategies,
solving the problem and checking the reasonableness of their solutions.
Differentiated activities to build students’ skills and strategies
Most pages provide problems at a Proficient level and an Advanced level along
with an Investigation. With the proficient problems, students are generally solving Lower Secondary
one-step problems in which they need to use one mathematical operation and
the language indicates the required operation. The advanced problems involve
more sophisticated language and may involve more than one operation in order to
calculate the answer.
The investigations draw students in to address real-life situations. To successfully
solve the investigations, they must think and work mathematically, as well as use
their knowledge of a range of mental and written strategies and demonstrate their
overall competence in mathematics.

Code: EB51133
ISBN: 978-1-77655-665-6

Greg Purcell
Differentiated activities to build students’ skills and strategies
Lower Secondary
Title: Maths Problems and Investigations
Differentiated activities to build students’ skills and strategies
Lower Secondary
Author: Greg Purcell
Editor: Leah Brooks
Designer: Diane Williams
Book code: EB51133
ISBN: 978-1-77655-665-6
Published: 2019
Publisher: Essential Resources Educational Publishers Limited
Australia New Zealand
PO Box 906 PO Box 5036
Strawberry Hills Invercargill
NSW 2012 ph: 0800 087 376
ph: 1800 005 068 fax: 0800 937 825
fax: 1800 981 231
Websites: www.essentialresources.com.au
www.essentialresources.co.nz
Copyright: Text: © Greg Purcell, 2019
First edition, 2010; Second edition © Essential Resources, 2019
About the author: Greg has had an extensive and varied career as an educator. He began as a
primary school teacher, teaching at a number of schools, including a period
as a school principal. While teaching, Greg perceived a need for meaningful,
pupil-friendly maths resources that teachers could use to enhance their teaching
programs. He embarked on a career as an author, writing over 200 published books
that have been market leaders for over 20 years. He has a special interest in problem
solving and investigative mathematics. Greg has also enjoyed sharing his knowledge
and enthusiasm for education with aspiring teachers, as a university tutor. In order to
keep his mind fresh and thoughts clear, Greg starts each day with a swim or a surf.

Copyright notice:

Schools and teachers who buy this book have permission to reproduce it within their
present school by photocopying, or if in digital format, by printing as well. Quantities
should be reasonable for educational purposes in that school and may not be used
for non-educational purposes nor supplied to anyone else. Copies made from this
book, whether by photocopying or printing from a digital file, are to be included in the
sampling surveys of Copyright Licensing Limited (New Zealand) or Copyright Agency
Limited (Australia).

For further information on your copyright obligations, visit:

New Zealand: www.copyright.co.nz, Australia: www.copyright.com.au
Contents
Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
Money. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
Patterns and algebra. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
Negative numbers. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
Time. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
Data. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
Percentages. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
Rates and ratios. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
Temperature. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
Length . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
Area. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
Fractions. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
Mass. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
Chance. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40
Graphs and data. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
Volume and capacity. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42
Time, patterns and algebra. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
Decimals. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46
Length and time . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48
Answers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49
Introduction
Maths Problems and Investigations – Lower Secondary is designed to support students who need
practice to build their skills and strategies. The engaging problem-solving activities take students
through a deliberate process whereby students:
• read the problem
• identify relevant information
• select appropriate strategies
• solve the problem
• check the reasonableness of their solutions.

Most pages provide problems at a Proficient level and an Advanced level along with an
Investigation. With the proficient problems, students are generally solving one-step problems in
which they need to use one mathematical operation and the language indicates the required
operation. The advanced problems involve more sophisticated language and may involve more
than one operation in order to calculate the answer.

The investigations draw students in to address real-life situations. To successfully solve the
investigations, they must demonstrate:
• ability to think and work mathematically
• knowledge of a range of mental and written strategies
• overall competence in mathematics.

Students as young learners need to both be shown and experience a variety of mental strategies,
as well as traditional written strategies. Such strategies include:
• Estimation – if the solution differs from the initial estimate, the answer might need to be
checked or an alternative strategy employed.
• Written – problems involving large numbers and those that require two or three steps in order
to reach a solution are best solved using pen and paper strategies. Answers can be checked
and reworked if necessary.
• Calculator – competent use of a calculator demonstrates mathematical competence and
forms a legitimate problem-solving strategy.

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MO N E Y 1

Proficient
My strategies

1. Photocopy paper is $6.95 per ream. How much would I

pay for a carton of 5 reams?

2. One bike helmet is $58.95 and a cheaper one is $5.25

less. How much is the cheaper one?

3. What is my change from $20 after buying cheese for

$4.95, bread for $3.50 and milk for $3.40?

4. Five friends are sharing the rent on a terrace house. How

much will each pay if the rent is $450 per week?

Advanced
My strategies

1. Mrs Shapiro collected money for an excursion. How much

did she have if each of the 25 children paid $5.25?

2. What would be the wages bill if the manager was paid

$680.80, the two sales people were paid $510 each and
the personal assistant was paid $425.85?

3. Five girls made some clothes. Each bought 3 m of

material at $9.99 per metre. What was their total bill?

4. Aisha combined $4 055 she had in the bank with $9 700

she borrowed to buy a new car. How much was the car?

Investigation Two new cars

Tane and Sarah both spent $18 335 on the same new car but they chose different options. Show
the different options they may have chosen.
$14 990 drive away
Tane Sarah
Options
Car $14 990 Car $14 990 Automatic $2 135
Fog lights $605
Alloy wheels $1 350
Tinted windows $605
Rear-view camera $1 995
Total $18 335 Total $18 335

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MO N E Y 2

Proficient
My strategies

1. How much would I pay for 50 litres of petrol at $2.30

per litre?

2. What is my change from $20 after buying soap for $2.40,

shampoo for $8.50 and baby oil for $4.50?

3. A hamburger is $6.25. With egg it is 75c extra. How much

would three hamburgers cost if one had egg with it?

Advanced
My strategies

1. Leaflet delivery boys and girls are paid $10 per 1 000
leaflets. How many does Amara deliver to earn $100?

2. Can 4 friends afford to rent a home for $430 per week if

none of them are able to pay more than $90 per week?

3. How much was Oliver’s bike if he paid for it by making

four equal payments of $125.50?

4. I bought an exercise book at the shop. I tendered $5. My

change consisted of five coins of different denominations
(excluding 5c coins). How much was the exercise book?

Investigation How much each?

How much did each person pay for their meal?

Clues
a. Maddison paid the average of the total bill. _________

b. Lorenzo paid a third more than Maddison. _________

c. Benjamin tendered $50 but got half back. _________

d. Sophia paid 10% of the total. _________

Bill
e. Sam paid one-eighth of the bill. _________ $242.40
f. Liu Wei put in $50 and got $8 change. _________

g. Georgia paid two-thirds of Liu Wei’s amount. _________

h. Aurora paid the rest. _________

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MO N E Y 3

Proficient
My strategies

1. The entrance fee to the zoo is $5.60. How many tickets

did Imani buy if she spent $22.40?

2. Rangi paid a deposit of $1 560 on a new car. How much

did the car cost if he still has $15 750 to pay?

3. Kyra’s new car cost $36 000. What are her monthly
repayments if she is paying it off over 3 years?

Advanced
My strategies

1. Which is the best buy: 1 kg of pet food at $3.20 or 2 kg

at $6.32?

2. Carpet is $57 a square metre. Is $1 125 enough to carpet

a room 4 m wide and 5 m long?

3. Matilda is paid $35 an hour but gets time and a half on

Sundays. How much would she receive if she worked
7 hours on Sunday?

Investigation Car costs

Compare the data in the table to the data presented on the graph.
1. Which luxury car is of equal
Popular cars
value to:
Yaris Civic Corolla RAV4 Mazda 3
a. 10 Yaris? _____________
$16 000 $40 000 $24 000 $38 000 $25 000
b. 5 RAV4s? _____________
Luxury cars
370
c. 15 Corollas? _____________
350
330 d. 12 Mazda 3s? _____________
310
290 e. 9 Civics? _____________
270
$’000

250 2. What is the total value of the:

230
210 a. popular cars? _____________
190
170 b. luxury cars? ______________
150
130
Nissan Lexus Audi Jag Volvo BMW Porsche Merc

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MO N E Y 4

Proficient
My strategies

1. How much will Hinata receive if he is paid $40 an hour

and works 40 hours?

2. Wiremu earned $9 654 last year. What was his average

monthly wage?

3. Ana was sponsored $8.50 per kilometre in the fun run. How
much will she receive if she completes the 9 km course?

Advanced
My strategies

1. Bread rolls are usually $2.50 a packet. This week they are on
special “Buy 2 get 1 free”. How much will 7 packets cost?

2. Milo’s share is twice as much as Ethan’s share. What will

be each person’s share of $648?

3. Each of the 50 children paid $8.20 for the zoo trip. The bus
company charged $200. How much was paid to the zoo?

Investigation Pay day

Mrs Palandro pays all the workers at Tax instalment table
the store. She also has to deduct
Weekly pay Weekly tax instalment
their tax. Use the tax instalment
information to work out how much $0–397 20 cents per dollar
tax each person will pay and what $398–729 25 cents per dollar
their take-home pay will be.
$730–960 30 cents per dollar
$961 & over 50 cents per dollar
Wages

Worker Weekly pay Tax Take-home pay

Michael $640

Margaret $800

Kosta $1 000

Kevin $400

Chen $350

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PAT T E RN S AN D ALG E B R A 1

Proficient
My strategies

1. Each pentagon requires 5 matchsticks. How many

matchsticks would be needed to make 24 pentagons?

2. Caden buys a newspaper every day. How much would he

spend in two weeks if the newspapers are $2.30 each?

3. Each hexagon requires 6 matchsticks. How many

hexagons can be made with 114 matchsticks?

4. It takes a machine 3 minutes to fold a flat piece of

cardboard into a box shape. How many boxes can it
produce in 7 hours?

Advanced
My strategies

1. Each octagon requires 8 matchsticks. How many

octagons can be made with 140 matchsticks?

2. A car travels 9.5 km per litre of petrol. How many

kilometres would it travel on 70 litres?

3. Tiffany estimates that each person will have 3 drinks. How

many 1 L bottles will she need for 30 people if each cup
holds 200 mL?

4. Noah receives twice as much pocket money as Skye.

If they received $36 between them, how much did
Noah receive?

Investigation Handshakes
At the end of the Under 12’s game, each of the 11 players shook hands with the 11 opposition
players. How many handshakes took place? _______________

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PAT T E RN S AN D ALG E B R A 2

Proficient
My strategies

1. Marlon is working out how much he is paid per hour. What

is his hourly rate if he worked 9 hours and received $162?

2. Rebecca paid $16 for four hairclips. What would you

estimate to be the cost of seven hairclips?

3. Every third peg on the clothesline is green. How many

pegs are there altogether if there are 36 green pegs?

4. Mum paid $48 for six tickets. Auntie Kaia said she’d pay
for four of them. How much does Auntie Kaia owe Mum?

Advanced
My strategies

1. Raffle tickets are $5 each, or 3 for $12. How many tickets

could I get with $30?

2. What is the difference between the largest and smallest

number that can be made with the digits 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6?

3. If 9 tickets cost $234, how much would 12 cost?

4. Ali and Eve have 120 marbles between them. How many
do they each have if Ali has 3 times as many as Eve?

Investigation Basketball draw

Look at the draw for the Canberra basketball competition. The first three rounds are worked out.
Complete the draw for the next two rounds so all teams will have played each other once.

Canberra Basketball Competition

Dream Team (1) Slam Dunks (2) Basket Hounds (3)

Cool Cats (4) Groovy Girls (5) Top Dogs (6)

Round 1 Round 2 Round 3 Round 4 Round 5

1v6 6v4 2v6 v v

2v5 5v3 3v1 v v

3v4 1v2 4v5 v v

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PAT T E RN S AN D ALG E B R A 3

Proficient
My strategies

1. Lucas’s cricket score in the first innings consisted of 1 six,

3 fours and 4 twos. In the second innings he doubled his
original score. What was his score in the second innings?

2. How old are the children if Anna is 10 years older than Li Jun
and 5 years older than Kora, who was born 8 years ago?

3. A machine fills 10 cereal packs every 5 minutes. How

many packs would it fill in an hour?

Advanced
My strategies

1. How much chlorine did I use if I mixed water and chlorine

in the ratio of 3:1 and used 18 litres of water?

2. On the treasure map, 10 paces represents 500 m. How

far did One-Eyed Jack travel if he took 7 paces north and
4 paces west?

3. For every 2 vanilla ice-creams sold, 3 chocolate ones

were sold. Calculate the number of chocolate ice-
creams sold if 34 vanilla were sold.

Investigation Goldbach’s conjecture

Christian Goldbach was a German mathematician. In 1748 he explained that every even
number except 2 was the sum of two prime numbers, eg, 40 = 29 + 11.

Test his theory using the prime 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

numbers on the 100s grid.
11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20
Then select pairs of prime
21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30
numbers that have a sum of
20, 36 and 84. 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40

41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50
a. 20 = ________ + ________
51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60
b. 36 = ________ + ________
61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70
c. 84 = ________ + ________ 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80

81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90

91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 100

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PAT T E RN S AN D ALG E B R A 4

Proficient
My strategies

1. A single ticket costs $4.50, five cost $18 and a book of ten
$32. What is the price per ticket in a book of ten?

2. How old is Aisha if she is 3 years younger than Luca

whose age is a prime number between 12 and 15?

3. A machine produces 350 tennis balls per hour. How

many would be produced in a 40-hour week?

4. The sign said “Buy two, get one free”. If the tickets are $9
each, how much would you pay for 6 tickets?

Advanced
My strategies

1. How many votes did Shalini get if she got half as many as
Yousef, who got one-quarter of the 648 votes?

2. Seven golf balls are placed in each packet. For every

4 red balls there are 3 blue balls. How many blue balls
would there be in a box of 91?

3. Two of my taps are leaking. One leaks at a rate of 5 mL

per hour and the other at a rate of 9 mL per hour. How
much water is lost per day?

4. Four rows of trees were planted. Each row contained half

the number of trees of the previous row. If the first row had
32 trees, how many trees were there altogether?

Investigation All aboard

Mrs Savage and her son Otto, along with Willow and her mother, Mrs West, hired a boat for the
day. The rules were that an adult must always be on board and that only two people could sail
at a time. How many different combinations can sail the boat?

My combinations Boat Hire

$50 per half day
$80 per day

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N E GAT I VE N UM B E RS 1

Proficient
My strategies

1. If the temperature at 1 pm was 4°C, what was the

temperature at 6 pm if it was 5°C lower?

2. What is the balance in Nikau’s bank account if he had

$50 but had to spend $60 on parking fees?

3. How many points did the Bulldogs have if they scored 119
but forfeited 150?

Advanced
My strategies

1. By how many degrees did Christchurch’s temperature fall

if it was 11°C at noon but fell to -2.5°C at 8 pm?

2. Mary bought 100 shares for $5 each in GPS Sports. What

was her profit or loss if she sold the lot for $450?

3. In the quiz, each player began with 15 points. 5 points

were added for correct answers and 5 points were
deducted for incorrect answers. How many points did
Luke have if all of his 6 answers were wrong?

Investigation Backyard cricket

Rules:
• Each batter bats for 12 balls. • If a ball hits the fence, it is +4 runs.
• Batters can get out more than once. • Other runs are like normal cricket.
• A ball over the fence is +6 runs. • Getting out is -5 runs.

Smackers Whackers
Batter Score Total Batter Score Total
Matthew 18 runs, 2 outs Hannah 20 runs, 1 out
Harper 15 runs, 2 outs Riku 18 runs, 3 outs
Archie 12 runs, 3 outs Rosanne 10 runs, 3 outs
Lagi 8 runs, 2 outs Aidan 9 runs, 2 outs
Arjun 10 runs, 3 outs Jackson 6 runs, 2 outs
Total score Total score

Calculate each batter’s score. Who won the game? __________________________

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 TIME 1

Proficient
My strategies

1. The drink vending machine ran out of stock after 49 days.

How many weeks is this?

2. Over summer, Anika took a two-week break. When did her

holiday finish if her first day of leave was 23 December?

3. How many hours did Krish work if he started at 10 am and

finished at 5:30 pm?

4. How old is Callum if he is 1 12 years older than Bettie who

is 8 years 4 months?

Advanced
My strategies

1. What was the car’s average speed if it travelled

420 kilometres in 7 hours?

2. A plane’s average speed is 540 km per hour. How far

would it travel in 8 hours?

3. Ali’s bus was due at 8:35 but was 8 minutes late. When
did he arrive at his destination if the trip took 18 minutes?

4. The microwave recipe suggested 3 minutes per kilogram.

How long should a meal weighing 2 12 kg be cooked?

Investigation Average speed

Three cars drove at an average speed of 80 kilometres an hour for 3 hours, but none of them
drove at identical speeds for the whole trip. A graph of one car’s journey is provided. Draw 3
other possibilities on the graphs below.
240 240 240 240

200 200 200 200

160 160 160 160

Kilometres

Kilometres

Kilometres

Kilometres

120 120 120 120

80 80 80 80

40 40 40 40

0 0 0 0
1 2 3 1 2 3 1 2 3 1 2 3
Hours Hours Hours Hours

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TIME 2

Proficient
My strategies

1. How many weeks were Kora and Leila away if they were
away for 42 days?

2. Noah spends 40 minutes each school day practising his

guitar. How many hours and minutes is this altogether
during one school week?

3. How much sleep did Ruby get if she slept from 8 pm to

6 am the next morning?

Advanced
My strategies

1. How far did the plane fly if it flew for 3 hours and
15 minutes at 540 km per hour?

2. How much money would I receive if I worked for 4 hours

and 45 minutes at a rate of $45 per hour?

3. Rangi earns $30 per hour at Toy World. Last Saturday he

worked for 72 minutes. How much did he earn?

Investigation Recording minutes

The hour is a common unit of time. Sometimes it is convenient to express parts of an hour as
fractions. Complete the chart to show different ways of recording minutes.

Number of minutes Fraction Decimal Percentage

5 1
12

6 1
10

10 1
6

12 1
5

15 25%
·
20 0.33 33 13 %
30
·
40 0.66 66 23 %
45 3
4

60 1

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TIME 3

Proficient
My strategies

1. Catherine’s flight of 3 280 km from Sydney to Perth took

5 hours. What was the plane’s average speed?

2. Catherine’s return flight from Perth to Sydney only took 4

hours. What was the plane’s average speed?

3. Ananya borrowed a book on 28 March and returned it

15 days later. When did she return it?

4. A taxi driver began work at 3:55 pm Monday and finished

at 1:15 am Tuesday. How long was his shift?

Advanced
My strategies

1. Kayla planned on being in the city at 8:45 am. When

did she arrive if the trip took 9 minutes less than she
anticipated?

2. A bus journey began in Brisbane at 0500, Friday,

20 April. On which day and at what time did it arrive in
Melbourne, if the trip took 25 hours 30 minutes?

3. What is Brody’s hourly pay rate if he received $130 for his

morning shift, which began at 0830 and finished at 1100?

4. Sai set his DVD player to record the footy at 19:30. How
long did he record if he stopped recording at 21:00?

Investigation Way to mow

Kaito and Simon have a lawn-mowing business. When Kaito mows the Pearl Bay bowling green,
he gets the job done in 48 minutes but Simon can do it in 24 minutes. Colour the section of the
lawn they will have mowed working together for 12 minutes.

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TIME 4

Proficient
My strategies

1. If the 5:59 am train from Greensville was 14 minutes late,

when did it arrive?

2. How long were we away from home if we left home at

12:45 am and returned at 4:15 pm?

3. When did Tama return to Fremantle if he left for a 16-day

holiday on 26 June?

Advanced
My strategies

1. The drive home from Movieland takes 57 minutes. When

will we arrive home if we leave at 4:25 pm but stop off at
my cousin’s house for 14 minutes?

2. Dad began mowing the lawn at 4:55 pm. The backyard

took 37 minutes and the front took 39 minutes. When did
he finish the job?

3. The relay team’s time was 1 minute 40 seconds. What

was Runner 4’s time if Runners 1 and 2 took 24 seconds
each and Runner 3 took 25 seconds?

4. When should I set my video to turn off? The program runs

for 1 hour 30 minutes, starts at 13:45 and I usually record
for an extra 10 minutes to be safe.

Investigation Bus stops

Two bus companies stop at Berry station. The Blue bus arrives every 20 minutes and the Red bus
every 30 minutes.

Beginning at 0700 hours, create a timetable for each bus service and highlight the times that
both buses will be at the station at the same time.

Berry bus station

Blue
0700
bus
Red
0700
bus

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DATA 1

Proficient
My strategies

1. On average, each of Australia’s 25 million people

download 4 books per year. How many books are
bought annually by Australians?

2. On Ari’s graph, one picture represents four cars. In the third

row, there are 12 cars. How many does this represent?

3. Sara draws 15 cars on her picture graph to represent

45 cars. How many cars are represented by each picture?

4. Matt’s car uses 10 litres of petrol per 100 km. How many
litres would the car use on a 400 km trip?

Advanced
My strategies

1. What is the average price of tennis racquets if the three

types are $260, $350 and $380?

2. If Jack travelled 500 km in a car that uses 8 litres per 100 km,
how much petrol would he use?

3. Marco’s mean score for the four tests was 25. What was
his score in the final test if his first three scores were 28, 20,
and 22?

4. The median house price in Northville is $520 000. How much

did Amelia pay if she paid $35 000 less than the median?

Investigation Ten-pin bowling

Name Arihi Beau Cam Donna Ella Fetu George Hana Izaac
Score 300 280 200 275 270 205 210 240 280

Use the ten-pin bowling scoresheet to complete the values below.

a. mode = ______________

b. median = ______________

c. mean = ______________

18 © E s s e nt i a l Re s o u rce s E d u cat i o n a l Pu b l i s h e r Ltd

DATA 2

Proficient
My strategies

1. Yuna’s mean score over 5 tests was 75. Her first four
scores were 75, 86, 78 and 77. What was her final score?

2. The graph showed that the car travelled 69 km in the first

hour, 87 km in the second hour and 123 km in the third
hour. What was its average speed?

3. May’s scores were 70%, 85%, 95% and 82%. What is her
mean percentage score?

Advanced
My strategies

1. Amara is a great netball goal shooter. In the past

5 games she has shot 37, 28, 17, 45 and 28. What is her
point-scoring average?

2. Emma keeps a logbook to record the length of her

business trips. What is her mean distance travelled if her
trips have been 155 km, 242 km and 20 km?

3. A pilot made 6 trips from Sydney to Melbourne. The total

distance travelled was 4 236 km. What is the distance
between Melbourne and Sydney?

Investigation Slam dunk

Use the clues to work out how many points each player scored. One has been done for you.

Mean score = 14 Median score = 14 Mode = 24 Total score = 70

Clues
• Henry scored the median score. Name Position Points
• Ryder and Tui both scored the Jamal Centre
top score equally.
• Allen scored 18 the number of Allen Left Forward
points Ryder scored.
Henry Left Guard 14
• The centre scored the second
lowest number of points. Ryder Right Forward

Tui Right Guard

© E s s e nt i a l Re s o u rce s E d u cat i o n a l Pu b l i s h e r Ltd 19

DATA 3

Proficient
My strategies

1. Kai recorded the temperature from Monday to Friday.

What was the average for the week if the temperatures
were 21°C, 19°C, 25°C, 26°C and 24°C?

2. On a picture graph, one picture represents 7 cars. How

many cars would be represented by 4 pictures?

3. Zara’s average score for the five tests was 25. What was
her final score if she recorded scores of 27, 23, 19 and 30
in the first four tests?

Advanced
My strategies

1. Greta owns a jewellery store. What was the average price

she paid for a $2 300 necklace, a $5 600 ring and a
$3 500 bracelet?

2. There were 5 units on each floor of a building 3 storeys

high. Each tenant’s weekly rent was $750. How much rent
money is due each week?

3. On the pie chart, an angle of 45° represented 16 netball

players. How many football players were represented by
an angle of 135°?

Investigation Aquarium visits

The graph shows the number of Aquarium exhibits
people who attended each exhibit 10 800

at the aquarium over the long

9 000
weekend. Calculate the mean,
median and mode.
7 200
a. mean = ______________
Visitors

5 400
b. median = ______________
3 600
c. mode = ______________

1 800

0
T O P H C S
Exhibitions

20 © E s s e nt i a l Re s o u rce s E d u cat i o n a l Pu b l i s h e r Ltd

DATA 4

Proficient
My strategies

1. If Mia’s scores are 55, 35, 40 and 50, what is her

mean score?

2. What was the average price the boys paid if Gabriel’s

lunch was $5.40, Maru’s was $4.80 and Kabir’s was $4.80?

3. A picture graph uses 1 bat to represent five baseball

players. How many bats would have to be drawn to
represent 85 players?

Advanced
My strategies

1. Four out of every 13 cards have a picture of a person

on them. How many images of people will there be in
a pack of 52 cards?

2. On Prisha’s pie graph, an angle of 36° represents

18 people. How many people would be represented
by an angle of 108°?

3. What is the distance between Darwin and Brisbane if a

plane’s logbook shows that the plane travelled 17 112 km
on 3 return trips between the cities?

Investigation How far away do you live?

The circles show how far the pony club members live from the horse stables. Each letter
represents a person’s name, i.e., Andrea, Drew, Ji-Woo, Lyla and Mason. Use the grid to
complete the data about the distances.

a. mode = ______________

b. median = ______________

c. mean = ______________ J
M
A

© E s s e nt i a l Re s o u rce s E d u cat i o n a l Pu b l i s h e r Ltd 21

PE RCE N TAG E S 1

Proficient
My strategies

1. 500 children attend Karori College. If 40% of the students

are girls, how many are boys?

2. 20% of the 5 dozen coffee mugs were broken in the

earthquake. How many broken mugs were there?

3. How far have we travelled if we have completed 30% of

the 480 km trip?

Advanced
My strategies

1. 25% of the boys are in the Green team. How many boys
are there altogether if 14 boys are in the Green team?

2. How much did Geraldine pay for her plane ticket if the
normal fare is $2 500 but she received a 50% discount?

3. Hassan invests $4 000 for one year at 5% interest. How

much money will he earn in interest over the year?

Investigation Australia’s population

The map shows the percentage of Australia’s population living in each state and territory. Use
the data and a calculator to work out the population of each state and territory. Australia’s
population has been rounded to 25 000 000.

State Population

QLD

NSW

ACT

VIC

TAS

SA

WA

NT

22 © E s s e nt i a l Re s o u rce s E d u cat i o n a l Pu b l i s h e r Ltd

PE RCE N TAG E S 2

Proficient
My strategies

1. Antonio’s tax rate is 50%. What is his take-home pay if he

earns $550 per week?

2. Dinner cost $400. If a 10% tip was left, how much was
paid in total?

3. Riley earns $850 a week but pays 30% tax. What is her
take-home pay?

Advanced
My strategies

1. Mrs Greene earns $960 a week but pays 45% tax. What is
her take-home pay?

2. How much did Tyron pay for the $21 950 car if he was
given a 20% discount?

3. Our council fees are about to be increased by 3%, which

is equal to $24. How much do we pay at the moment?

Investigation Competition ladder

Complete the table. Points: Win = 2 points, Loss = 0 points (There were no draws.)

Team Games Percentage won Points Position

Sharks 20 75%

Magic 20 40%

T-birds 20 100%

Cats 20 80%

Storm 20 0%

Dragons 20 90%

Dolphins 20 60%

Marlins 20 30%

Ghosts 20 50%

© E s s e nt i a l Re s o u rce s E d u cat i o n a l Pu b l i s h e r Ltd 23

PE RCE N TAG E S 3

Proficient
My strategies

1. How much farther do we have to walk if we have

completed 50% of the 50 km hike?

2. If T-shirts are normally $30, how much would one T-shirt

cost with a 20% discount?

3. How many goals did Moana score if she took 25 shots

and had a 60% success rate.

Advanced
My strategies

1. How much is a 10% deposit on the $3 500 TV Diane

wants to buy?

2. Steven’s first test score was 50. What was his second score
if was 20% higher?

3. 4 000 girls attended the camp. If 25% were under

13 years old, how many were teenagers?

Investigation Who won?

In netball, the percentage of successful attempts at goal is very important, eg, 25 attempts at 80%
= 20, whereas 36 attempts at 50% = 18. Examine the data from each game to see who won.

Game 1
Magpies Keas
Attempts % Score Attempts % Score Winner
40 80% 50 60%

Game 2
Seagulls Kiwis
Attempts % Score Attempts % Score Winner
56 75% 50 90%

Game 3
Bellbirds Silvereyes
Attempts % Score Attempts % Score Winner
36 75% 35 80%

24 © E s s e nt i a l Re s o u rce s E d u cat i o n a l Pu b l i s h e r Ltd

PE RCE N TAG E S 4

Proficient
My strategies

1. What was the water temperature at the beach if it was

equal to 92% of the air temperature, which was 25°C?

2. There are 75 children in Year 6. 80% are going to Green Point

College next year. How many are going to other schools?

3. Of the 80 clocks in the shop, only 15% showed the

correct time. How many clocks showed the right time?

Advanced
My strategies

1. Ticket sales for the concert totalled $2 360. If 40% was

profit, how much money was made?

2. The car we want is $25 400. How much will we pay with a
15% discount and an $8 999 trade-in on our old car?

3. What is the current population of our town if it was 6 000

in the year 2000 and has increased 25% since then?

Investigation Saving water

Mr and Mrs Drinkwater want to reduce their water consumption by 30%. Complete the table by
reducing each section by 30%.

Average daily use: 5 people Current New target

Toilet 9 L per flush 225 L
Bath 120 L (half full) × 3 360 L
Shower 2 × 8 min showers 410 L
Handwashing dishes 20 L × 3 60 L
Washing machine One daily wash 265 L
Garbage disposal 60 L
Hand basin 5L
Cleaning teeth Tap left running 5L
Drinking, cooking, etc 10 L
Leaking pipe 1.5 mm hole 300 L
Garden sprinkler 1 hour 1 500 L
Total use per day 3 200 L 2 240 L

© E s s e nt i a l Re s o u rce s E d u cat i o n a l Pu b l i s h e r Ltd 25

PE RCE N TAG E S 5

Proficient
My strategies

1. Membership fees have increased by 25% this year. How

much will it cost to register if the fees were $88 last year?

2. Tamati receives 10% commission on sales. How much

commission would he earn if he sold $750 worth of stock
last Saturday?

3. The Comets have won 75% of their 16 games this season.

How many games have they won?

4. 20% of Australia’s population of 25 million people are

in the 0–14 years age group. How many Australians are
aged 14 years or younger?

Advanced
My strategies

1. What percentage of the juice would still be in a 750 mL

bottle if I filled three 200 mL glasses?

2. How much does Zaria earn a week? She pays 25% in

taxes, rent and food account for 45%, she saves 20%
and she spends the remaining $35.

3. Ava saved $22 500, half of the 10% deposit she needs to
buy a house. What is the full amount of the deposit?

4. A New Zealand dollar was worth 80 cents in US dollars.

How much did it cost in New Zealand money to buy a
US$10.00 souvenir?

Investigation River cruises

Calculate the cost for:
Group bookings
a. 20 people ______________
• First 10 people pay $40 each.
• Second 10 people pay 50% of b. 30 people ______________
full price.
• Others only pay 25% of full price.

26 © E s s e nt i a l Re s o u rce s E d u cat i o n a l Pu b l i s h e r Ltd

R AT E S AN D R AT I OS 1

Proficient
My strategies

1. If a bus comes every 12 minutes, how many buses

should arrive between 11:59 am and 2:01 pm?

2. The pattern of bricks is 6 grey to 2 black. How many grey

bricks would there be if 80 bricks were laid?

3. The ratio of cars to trucks in the carpark is 25:1. If there are

3 trucks, how many cars are there?

Advanced
My strategies

1. The ratio of adults to children is 5:4. If there were

36 people in the audience, how many were children?

2. Miss Denton gave one award to every 5th student. How

many students are there if 6 students got an award?

3. There are 60 members in the swimming club, the ratio of

girls to boys is 7:3. How many girls are there?

Investigation Creating a graph

Lynette and Petra go to the athletics track every Thursday. Lynette walks at a rate of 50 m/min
and Petra jogs at 100 m/min.

Finish the graph that shows how far they each travel in 10 minutes.
Lynette
Petra
Distance travelled
1 000

900

800

700

600
Metres

500

400

300

200

100

0
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
Minutes

© E s s e nt i a l Re s o u rce s E d u cat i o n a l Pu b l i s h e r Ltd 27

 T E M PE R AT U RE 1

Proficient
My strategies

1. What was Auckland’s minimum temperature if it was

9.8°C below the maximum of 24.3°C?

2. Kaia set her oven temperature to 200°C. Currently it is

135°C. How much does it have to rise before it reaches
her desired temperature?

3. Air temperature on the coast was 19.5°C but the ocean

was 2.9°C warmer. What was the ocean temperature?

Advanced
My strategies

1. What was the average temperature for the week if the

recorded temperatures were 23°C, 17°C, 21°C, 23°C,
26°C, 28°C and 23°C?

2. At 2 pm it was 32°C, then a cold snap hit. The

temperature fell 15° in 10 minutes and another 6° in the
next 20 minutes. What was the temperature at 2:30 pm?

3. Body temperature is 36.9°C. Currently, Erik’s temperature is

38.7°C. By how much does his temperature have to fall to
reach the normal level?

Investigation World-wide temperatures

1. Calculate the mean*, median and
Average daily temperatures
20 mode for the minimum temperatures.
Minimum temperature
18 Maximum temperature a. mean = ______________
16
b. median = ______________
14
c. mode = ______________
12

10
2. Calculate the mean*, median and
Celsius

mode for the maximum temperatures.

8
a. mean = ______________
6

4 b. median = ______________
Hong Kong
Auckland
New York

Moscow

London

2 c. mode = ______________
Tokyo
Seoul

Berlin

Paris

0
Cities * round mean to nearest whole number

28 © E s s e nt i a l Re s o u rce s E d u cat i o n a l Pu b l i s h e r Ltd

T E M PE R AT U RE 2

Annual rainfall Daily hours Max. temperature Max. temperature

in millimetres of sunshine in January in July
Adelaide 530 7.7 27.9°C 14.8°C
Brisbane 1 199 8.0 29.1°C 20.6°C
Canberra 630 7.6 27.8°C 11.1°C
Darwin 1 661 8.5 31.7°C 30.4°C
Hobart 628 5.9 21.5°C 11.5°C
Melbourne 657 5.7 25.8°C 13.3°C
Perth 801 7.9 31.4°C 17.6°C
Sydney 1 227 6.8 25.8°C 16.1°C

Proficient
My strategies

1. How much more rain than Perth does Sydney

receive annually?

2. How much more sunshine does Darwin receive per day

than Melbourne?

3. What is the difference between Brisbane’s maximum

temperature in January and July?

Advanced
True or False

1. Sydney’s annual rainfall is more than the combined

rainfall of Canberra and Melbourne.

2. The difference between Adelaide’s maximum

temperature in July and January is 13.1°C.

3. Melbourne has two hours less sunshine per day

than Adelaide.

Investigation Weather watch

a. Name one city that is above average for each area of data. ___________________

b. What was the minimum temperature for your capital city today? ___________________

c. What was the maximum temperature for your capital city today? ___________________

d. Calculate the time between sunrise and sunset in your capital city today. ___________________
© E s s e nt i a l Re s o u rce s E d u cat i o n a l Pu b l i s h e r Ltd 29
T E M PE R AT U RE 3

Proficient
My strategies

1. If water boils at 100°C, by how many degrees does the

water in the kettle have to increase before it begins to
boil if it is currently 45°C?

2. Tomorrow’s temperature is expected to be 5°C

higher than today’s temperature of 17°C. What is the
temperature forecast to be tomorrow?

3. At 9 am, the temperature in the office was 9°C. An hour

later it had risen to 22°C. By how many degrees had the
temperature increased?

4. Refrigerators usually operate at 4°C. By how many degrees

will a glass of water fall when put in a fridge if it is 18.5°C?

Advanced
My strategies

1. An air conditioner was set at 22.5°C. If the setting is

increased by 2.5°C, what is the new setting?

2. Pete recorded the temperature at 12 noon for 7 days. His

results were 19°, 23°, 21°, 24°, 24°, 27° and 30°. What was
the mean temperature for this time of day?

3. If the minimum temperature during the day was 15.8°C

and the maximum 32.6°C, what was the temperature
range for the day?

Investigation Fahrenheit
Fatima is going to America. Her father said that to convert temperature from Celsius to
Fahrenheit is easy: “Double it and add 30 – that’s pretty close.”

Use this strategy to convert these temperatures from Celsius to Fahrenheit.

City Celcius Strategy (°C × 2 + 30) = °F Fahrenheit

a. New York 23°
b. San Francisco 28°
c. Washington 25°
d. Chicago 19°

30 © E s s e nt i a l Re s o u rce s E d u cat i o n a l Pu b l i s h e r Ltd

LE N GT H 1

Proficient
My strategies

1. A length of timber is 4 metres long. If 35 centimetres is

cut off, how much is left?

2. Kyle takes 2 steps to cover a metre. If he walks 600

metres to the bus stop, how many steps will he take?

3. How many metres of fencing are required for a

rectangular yard 14 metres long and 9 metres wide?

4. How many 40 cm tall boxes can be stacked against a

wall 2.4 metres high?

Advanced
My strategies

1. What is the length of a rectangular court if its perimeter is

90 metres and its width is 15 metres?

2. My window is 435 cm wide. If the curtains extend 15 cm

beyond the window at each end, how long is the
curtain rod?

3. Elena trains every day. She begins with a 500 m warm-

up, ten 100 m sprints and four 25 m laps of backstroke.
How far does she swim each day?

Investigation Bike tracks

Each square represents an area
A B C D E F G H I J K L
of 200 metres × 200 metres.
1
a. Plot a 3 km bike track from
2
Koala Estate to the school.
3
b. Plot a 5 km track that includes
4 visits to the pool, the YMCA
5 and Hide Park.

6
7
8
9

© E s s e nt i a l Re s o u rce s E d u cat i o n a l Pu b l i s h e r Ltd 31

ARE A 1

Proficient
My strategies

1. A 40 m long and 8 m wide section of the park is to get

new grass. What is its area?

2. A parcel of land with an area of 240 m2 was divided into

three equal parts. What is the area of each part?

3. If a rectangular garden bed has an area of 48 m2 and is

6 metres wide, how long is it?

4. How many containers 4 metres wide will fit across a shed

24 metres wide?

Advanced
My strategies

1. What is the area of a rectangle with a perimeter of

24 metres and a length that is twice its width?

2. If two soccer fields are about equal to 1 hectare, how

many hectares are needed to create 6 fields?

3. The entire pool area is 88 m2. Three quarters of this is pool

and the rest is paved. What is the area of the paved section?

Investigation Home sweet home

Home Sweet Homes Pty Ltd are going to build 3 homes on one
Council regulations
block of land. Each home will be 225 m2 and each will be a
different shape. Draw plans of three 225 m2 homes on the land. Use • Space must be
different colours to show each home’s free space. Read the council provided on
regulations first. all sides of
the house.
40 m
• Garages must
be joined to
the house.

40 m

20 m

80 m

32 © E s s e nt i a l Re s o u rce s E d u cat i o n a l Pu b l i s h e r Ltd

ARE A 2

Proficient
My strategies

1. Isabella and Sefina constructed their own handball court.

What was its area if its length is 10 metres and its width
7.5 metres?

2. If one hectare is equal to 10 000 m, how many hectares is

a property with a length of 400 m and a width of 250 m?

3. How many square-metre paving stones are needed to

pave an area 16 m long by 8 m wide?

Advanced
My strategies

1. What is the area of a rectangle 10 cm long with a

perimeter of 34 cm?

2. How much larger than New Zealand is Australia if

New Zealand is 268 021 km2 and Australia is 7 692 000 km2?

3. What is the area of New South Wales if it is 764 098 km2

larger than the Canterbury region in New Zealand, which
has an area of 45 346 km2?

Investigation Equal size

A suggestion has been put forward to make 6 states of equal size on mainland Australia. The
Northern Territory will be included as a state, but the ACT will remain a territory within a state.
Redraw the state boundaries so they are roughly the same size.

© E s s e nt i a l Re s o u rce s E d u cat i o n a l Pu b l i s h e r Ltd 33

ARE A 3

Proficient
My strategies

1. If a rectangular garden bed has an area of 36 m2 and is

4 m wide, how long is it?

2. If carpet is $50 per square metre, how much will it cost to

carpet an area 15 m long and 8 m wide?

3. A 54 m2 lounge is to be reduced in size by one-third

when the house is renovated. What will the area of the
modified room be?

Advanced
My strategies

1. Which handball court is larger? A court 13 m × 9 m or a

court 12 m × 10 m?

2. A rectangle is 8 cm long with a 24 cm perimeter. What is

its area?

3. What is the area of a rectangle with a 30 cm perimeter

and a length of 8 cm?

Investigation Floor plan

Laundry
Bedroom 1 Bedroom 2 Family 4×2
5×3 3×3 4×3
Toilet 4 × 1

Hallway

Bathroom 6 × 2
Lounge Kitchen Office
5×3 3×3 2×3 Scale 1 cm = 1 m

How much will it cost to put floor covering in the house?

a. Carpet will be laid in both bedrooms and the lounge at a cost of $50 per m2. __________

b. Tiles will be laid in the toilet, kitchen, bathroom and laundry at a cost of $60 per m2. __________

c. Timber will be laid in the office and family room at a cost of $90 per m2. __________

34 © E s s e nt i a l Re s o u rce s E d u cat i o n a l Pu b l i s h e r Ltd

FR AC T I O N S 1

Proficient
My strategies

1. How old is Mason if he is 1 12 times his cousin’s age of 10?

2. How many Jets supporters were in the crowd of 14 979 if

1
3 were Jets supporters?

3
3. How many games have the Jets won if they have won 4
of their 32 games?

Advanced
My strategies

1. How much did Vihaan contribute to the $54 present if

Seo Hyun put in half, Hana put in one third and Vihaan
put in the rest?

7
2. 10of the 300 g jar of coffee was used. How many grams
of coffee are left?

3. One quarter of every hour of television is used for

advertising. How many minutes of ads are there during a
2-hour movie?

Investigation A bed of roses

Help Jasmine, Lily and Fleur plant their flowers. Lily has started her garden.

Jasmine Lily Fleur

1 1 1 1 1 1
• pink = 2 • red = 6 • red = 3 • pink = 4 • yellow = 6 • blue = 8
1 1 1 1 1
• yellow = 3 • yellow = 4 • orange = 6 • white = 4 • pink = 6
1
• purple = 6 • red = 18

© E s s e nt i a l Re s o u rce s E d u cat i o n a l Pu b l i s h e r Ltd 35

FR AC T I O N S 2

Proficient
My strategies

1. A rope 32 metres long is cut into quarters. How long is

each piece?

1
2. How much is left in the 850 mL bottle if 5 is poured out?

3. Three quarters of the 1 200 seats were sold. How much

was received if the tickets were $9 each?

Advanced
My strategies

3
1. How much of the 12-piece pizza is left if Karim ate 4 of it
and Diego only ate one piece?

4
2. How much is left of a 370 mL bottle if it is 5 full?

3. What is the total length of the light post if 13 is

underground and it is 8.4 metres above ground?

Investigation School banking

Complete the table to show how much each person deposited in their bank account.

Emma Alessia Mandy Oliver Haru Bindi

Monthly income $20 $16 $25 $20 $21 $24
Fraction banked 1
4
1
2
1
5
3
10
1
3
1
3

Amount

Decide whether these statements are true or false.

a. The total amount earned by the children was $126. ______________

b. The person who earned the most saved the most. ______________

c. The person who earned the least saved the least. ______________

d. The total amount banked was $39. ______________

e. The person who earned the most saved the least. ______________

f. The person who earned the least saved the most. ______________

36 © E s s e nt i a l Re s o u rce s E d u cat i o n a l Pu b l i s h e r Ltd

FR AC T I O N S 3

Proficient
My strategies

1. Anabella’s backyard is 150 m². What is the area of the

garden if it takes up 13 of the backyard?

4
2. 5 of the balls are red. How many red balls are there if
there are 50 balls altogether?

3
3. How many grandparents attended the carnival if 10 of the
800 spectators were grandparents?

Advanced
My strategies

1. The yard’s perimeter is 60 m. How long is the fence

around the yard if it’s 45 of the perimeter?

2. Miro hit the golf ball 120 metres; Kamilah hit it 1 12 times
that distance. How far did Kamilah hit the ball?

3
3. 4of the six dozen eggs were cracked. How many
weren’t cracked?

Investigation Weekly spending

Calculate the amount each person spends on their weekly bills.
• Terry earns $400/week.
• Kara earns $600/week.
• Kalina earns $800/week.

Terry Kara Kalina

Expense Fraction Amount Fraction Amount Fraction Amount

1 1 3
Tax 4 4 8

1 1 3
Rent 4 5 8

1 1
Car 10 5

3 3 1
Food 10 10 4

Total expenses $ $ $

© E s s e nt i a l Re s o u rce s E d u cat i o n a l Pu b l i s h e r Ltd 37

MASS 1

Proficient
My strategies

1. Kaiya is 1 12 times heavier now than she was two years

ago when her mass was 42 kg. What is her mass now?

2. Two kilograms of cereal was divided equally into eight jars.

How many grams of cereal were in each jar?

3. The weight limit on the postage pack is 40 kg. How much

under the limit is Emily’s parcel if its mass is 37 kg 850 g?

Advanced
My strategies

1. If 8 tomatoes had a mass of 1 kilogram, how many

tomatoes would be equivalent to 3 12 kg?

2. Jean has a job at the fruit shop. She has to make up 14 kg

bags of potatoes. How many bags can she make from a
supply of 5 kg?

3. Cooper’s truck has a mass of 5 tonnes. What is the total

mass of the vehicle and its load if it is carrying three
1.7 tonne containers?

Investigation Who’s heavier?

Elijah 31.4 kg Timothy 29.7 kg

Ari 29.581 kg Ruby 29.019 kg

Ming 31.275 kg Kia 30.5 kg

A group of children in Year 5 recorded their mass. Place the children in ascending order.

Name

Mass

Use the symbols =, < and > to complete the statements.

a. Elijah’s mass Ari’s mass d. Ming’s mass Elijah’s mass

b. Timothy’s mass Kia’s mass e. Ari’s mass Ruby’s mass

c. Ruby’s mass Timothy’s mass f. Kia’s mass Ming’s mass

38 © E s s e nt i a l Re s o u rce s E d u cat i o n a l Pu b l i s h e r Ltd

MASS 2

Proficient
My strategies

1
1. How much does Salvatore’s dog weigh if it is 3 the mass
of Zaid’s dog, whose mass is 78 kg?

2. One tub of butter weighs 250 g. How much would

6 tubs weigh?

3. If a pack of 8 sausages has a mass of 560 g, about how

much would one sausage weigh?

Advanced
My strategies

1. A fruit shop sells 50 kg of potatoes on average each day.

How much does it sell in a fortnight?

2. A packet of washing powder has a mass of 1 kg 500 g.

If I use 25 grams per wash, how many washes do I get
out of the pack?

3. A kilogram of chocolate was divided equally among

8 people. How many grams did each person receive?

Investigation Tonnes of money

Renee sorted her coins into denominations
and weighed them. Complete the chart Coin Mass of Value
to work out their total value (the average pile
mass of Australian coins is shown below 5 cents 84.90 g $1.50
the illustrations).
10 cents 141.25 g $2.50

20 cents 282.50 g

50 cents 171.05 g
2.83 g 5.65 g 11.30 g $1 90.00 g

$2 99.00 g

Total value

15.55 g 9g 6.6 g

© E s s e nt i a l Re s o u rce s E d u cat i o n a l Pu b l i s h e r Ltd 39

CH AN CE 1

Proficient
My strategies

1. One out of every two people voted for Alice. How many
votes did Alice get if 70 people voted?

2. Two out of three children were girls. How many girls were
there if there were 24 children altogether?

3. Three out of every four marbles are blue. How many blue
marbles would you expect to find in a bag of 16?

4. Four out of every five marbles are silver. How many silver
marbles would you expect to find in a bag of 25?

Advanced
My strategies

1. Two out of every 5 marbles in a bag are red. How many

red marbles would you expect to find in a bag of 35?

2. Three out of every 8 lollies are green frogs. How many

green frogs would you expect to find in a bag of 32 lollies?

3. Four out of 7 children said their favourite flavour is

strawberry. Predict how many strawberry ice creams are
likely to be sold to 28 children.

Investigation Heads or tails

What are all the possible outcomes when three coins are tossed?

Place H or T on the coins in the grid below to show all the possible outcomes.

Hint: H H T is different to H T H

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8

40 © E s s e nt i a l Re s o u rce s E d u cat i o n a l Pu b l i s h e r Ltd

 G R A PH S AN D DATA 1

Study the information in the table about weather in capital cities around the world. Then look at
the graph that has been constructed using information in the table. Create three similar graphs
using other information from the table.

World Weather, 10–14 March, in Degrees Celsius

Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday
Min Max Min Max Min Max Min Max Min Max
Canberra (C) 8 25 11 25 11 28 13 24 9 24
London (L) 9 12 6 13 5 15 3 18 4 16
Los Angeles (LA) 10 17 11 21 16 30 14 24 11 16
New York (NY) 1 12 -3 12 -1 12 5 10 -1 7
Paris (P) 3 16 4 17 3 19 4 19 4 20
Tokyo (T) 8 16 5 15 9 14 6 20 5 15
Wellington (W) 14 21 13 20 11 18 13 16 12 17

Lowest temperatures
30° 30°

25° 25°

20° 20°
Degrees Celsius

Degrees Celsius

15° 15°

10° 10°

5° 5°

0 0

-5° -5°
C L LA NY P T W
Cities

30° 30°

25° 25°

20° 20°
Degrees Celsius

Degrees Celsius

15° 15°

10° 10°

5° 5°

0 0

-5° -5°

© E s s e nt i a l Re s o u rce s E d u cat i o n a l Pu b l i s h e r Ltd 41

VO LUM E AN D CA PACI T Y 1

Proficient
My strategies

1. Liam fills some 4-litre containers with detergent. How

many could he fill from a container holding 36 litres?

2. A bottle has a capacity of 750 mL. How much is left after

filling two 250 mL glasses?

3. How many millilitres of milk do I drink each week if I drink

45 mL each day?

Advanced
My strategies

1. Amaia takes 25 mL of medicine every 4 hours. How

much will she take in 12 hours? Hint: Amaia will take a
dose at the beginning and end of the 12 hours.

2. What is the volume of a shoe box 30 cm long, 20 cm

wide and 10 cm high?

3. Green’s Garden Centre make their own fertiliser. They mix

five parts water to one part fertiliser. How much water is
needed to make up 18 litres?

Investigation Fruit juice

Amber and Elisa found a recipe for a tropical fruit juice. It serves four people. They are having a
party and want to make drinks for 16 people.

Show the quantity of each ingredient needed for 16 people.

Ingredients Serves 4 Serves 16

What to do
Cold water 125 mL
Mix all ingredients, except the
Lemon juice 125 mL strawberries, in a blender until light
and frothy. Serve in a glass with a
Orange juice 250 mL
strawberry on a toothpick.
Lime juice 50 mL

Caster sugar 100 g

Eggs 12

Strawberries 4

42 © E s s e nt i a l Re s o u rce s E d u cat i o n a l Pu b l i s h e r Ltd

VO LUM E AN D CA PACI T Y 2

Proficient
My strategies

1. How many 200 mL mugs can be filled from a 1 800 mL jug?

2. If a tap is dripping at a rate of 20 mL per minute, how

long will it take to fill a 2-litre milk carton?

3. How many 25 mL tomato sauce sachets can be filled

using a 3-litre container?

4. For every 50 mL of cordial, I add 500 mL of water. How

much cordial is needed with 3 L of water?

Advanced
My strategies

1. Whose model takes up the most space, Omari’s model,

which is 6 m long, 4 m wide and 3 m tall or Anna’s, which
is a cube with sides of 5 m?

2. 150 tissue boxes are packed into a carton measuring

one cubic metre. How many similar cartons are needed
for 900 tissue boxes?

3. If 50 shoe boxes fit in a cubic metre carton, how many

would fit in a carton 3 m × 3 m × 2 m?

4. Mia is constructing a model using foam blocks. What is

the model’s volume if it is four 1-metre-high layers high
and the area of its base is 15 m?

Investigation Water conversions

One millilitre of water has a mass of one gram and a volume of one cubic centimetre
(1 mL = 1 cm3 = 1 g).

The volume of the fish tank is 1 m3 (100 cm × 100 cm × 100 cm)

a. What is the capacity of the fish tank? _______________

b. What would be the mass of the water in a full tank? _______________

© E s s e nt i a l Re s o u rce s E d u cat i o n a l Pu b l i s h e r Ltd 43

T I M E, PAT T E RN S AN D ALG E B R A 1

Proficient
My strategies

1. How far will a plane fly in 4 hours at a speed of 560 km/h?

2. How long were we away from home if we left at 9:45 am

and returned at 3:15 pm?

3. What was the plane’s average speed if it completed the

3 960 km flight in 6 hours?

Advanced
My strategies

1. My hourly pay rate is $26. How much will I earn if I work for
4 12 hours?

2. The kitchen clock gains 2 minutes each hour. If, by

coincidence, it was showing the correct time at 3 am,
what time will it be showing 6 hours later?

3. What was the plane’s average speed if it travelled 7 146 km

from the east coast to the west coast in 9 hours?

Investigation Polygon puzzle

360° 540° ____________ ____________ ____________

Rani found a way to work out how many degrees are in each polygon. She divided each one
into triangles using one vertex as the starting point for each triangle. She knew that there were
180° in a triangle, so to work out the degrees in each polygon she multiplied the number of
triangles she made by 180°.

Continue testing her theory on other polygons.

a. Under the next three polygons drawn above, write how many degrees they contain.

b. How many degrees are in a nonagon? _______________

c. How many degrees are in a decagon? _______________

44 © E s s e nt i a l Re s o u rce s E d u cat i o n a l Pu b l i s h e r Ltd

T I M E, PAT T E RN S AN D ALG E B R A 2

Proficient
My strategies

1. What time is low tide if high tide is 1.8 m at 9:54 am and

low tide is 6 hours 15 minutes later?

2. What is the plane’s average speed if the 3 965 km trip

from New York to Los Angeles was completed in 5 hours?

3. Matilda runs at a rate of 5 km/h. How far would she

expect to run in half an hour?

4. When will the DVD recorder stop if it was set to start

recording at 2:35 pm and run for 2 hours 15 minutes?

Advanced
My strategies

1. Would I have time to see two movies if the first one

begins at 9:45 and runs for 1 hour 33 minutes and the
other movie starts at 12:05?

2. How far is it from Ricky’s house to Eva’s if Ricky left home

at 4:45 pm and arrived at Eva’s at 7:15 pm and her
average speed was 78 km per hour?

3. If a tap is leaking at a rate of 5 mL per minute, how much

will leak from the tap between 9:45 and 11:05 am?

Investigation Grand final

APRIL MAY JUNE JULY

S M T W T F S S M T W T F S S M T W T F S S M T W T F S
1 2 3 30 31 1 1 2 3 4 5 1 2 3
4 5 6 7 8 9 10 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
11 12 13 14 15 16 17 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 11 12 13 14 15 16 17
18 19 20 21 22 23 24 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 18 19 20 21 22 23 24
25 26 27 28 29 30 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 27 28 29 30 25 26 27 28 29 30 31

• The competition starts on 3 April. a. Circle all the dates of the normal rounds of
• There are 6 teams competing. the competition.
• Each team plays each other twice. b. Use a highlighter pen to mark the date of the
• Games are played on Saturdays. Grand Final.
• The Grand Final is 3 weeks after normal
rounds finish.

© E s s e nt i a l Re s o u rce s E d u cat i o n a l Pu b l i s h e r Ltd 45

D E CI M AL S 1

Proficient
My strategies

1. During the netball season, Jade averaged 7.5 goals

per game. How many goals did she score if there were
14 games?

2. What was the outside temperature if it was 1.25 times the

inside temperature of 23°C?

3. What was the minimum temperature if it was 4.3°C below

the maximum temperature of 24.1°C?

Advanced
My strategies

1. Dhruv’s 66-litre capacity tank is 14 full and Brittany’s 35-litre

tank is 12 full. Who has the most petrol left?

2. The rope has to be divided into 6 segments. How long will

each segment be if the rope is 50.4 cm long?

3. What was the average distance travelled each day if the

bus completed a journey of 1 023.4 km over seven days?

4. The circumference of a tyre is 2.5 metres. How many

revolutions will it make over a journey of 3 kilometres?

Investigation Top dive

Each diver is given four dives and one score is disregarded. Determine the placings for
each competitor.

Australia Bermuda Canada Denmark England

9.625 9.825 9.7 8.995 9.625

9.7 8.79 9.695 8.995 8.995

8.995 8.895 9.655 9.905 8.99

9.95 9.010 9.125 8.795 9.075

Score

Place

46 © E s s e nt i a l Re s o u rce s E d u cat i o n a l Pu b l i s h e r Ltd

D E CI M AL S 2

Proficient
My strategies

1. How many litres are in the drum if it was filled using five
5.2 L buckets?

2. What is the perimeter of a 15.2 m long and 12.4 m wide

rectangular court?

3. If a 6-pack of water costs $9.60, what is the cost of

each bottle?

4. 4.75 kg of sausages were bought for the sausage sizzle.

How much is left if only 2.95 kg were used?

Advanced
My strategies

1. Four people equally shared the cost of the $25.20 taxi

fare. How much did each person pay?

2. How far did the cyclist travel if she rode for 1.5 hours at an
average speed of 20 km/h?

3. What would be Alinta’s change from $20 if she bought

3 tickets at $3.50 each?

Investigation Island adventure

Calculate the length of each trip.
a. Doby to Gaga return

____________________

b. Gaga to Zeya via Saya and Mojo

____________________

c. Doby to Saya via Zeya and Mojo

____________________

d. Around the entire island

____________________

© E s s e nt i a l Re s o u rce s E d u cat i o n a l Pu b l i s h e r Ltd 47

LE N GT H AN D T I M E 1

Proficient
My strategies

1. How many kilometres will a motorbike racer cover if she

completes 30 laps of the 5.5 km track?

2. Damian’s average time for each section of the race

was 1 minute 17 seconds. How long did it take him to
complete all three sections?

3. Ryan’s times for the 100 metres were 84 seconds,

73 seconds and 77 seconds. What was his average time?

Advanced
My strategies

1. How much did Jordan take off his time for the 1 500 m
if his previous best time was 6 minutes 15 seconds and
his time today was 5 minutes 41 seconds?

2. Camilla trains three times a week. On Tuesdays she runs

3 000 m; on Thursdays she runs 10 lots of 50 m sprints;
and on Fridays she runs 5 000 m. How far does she run
each week?

3. Marlee can complete the 400 metres in 1 minute 8 seconds.

What is her average speed for 100 metres?

Investigation Catch me if you can!

• Mia and her mum have a 500 m race.

• Mia runs at 15 seconds per 100 metres.
• Mum runs at 20 seconds per 100 metres.
• Mia gives her mum a 20 second start.

Who will finish first? Explain why.

______________________________________________

______________________________________________

______________________________________________

______________________________________________

______________________________________________

48 © E s s e nt i a l Re s o u rce s E d u cat i o n a l Pu b l i s h e r Ltd

Answers
MO N E Y 1 – PAG E 5 f. Liu Wei $42
Proficient g. Georgia $28
1. $34.75 h. Aurora $22.16
2. $53.70
MO N E Y 3 – PAG E 7
3. $8.15
4. $90 Proficient
1. 4 tickets
Advanced
2. $17 310
1. $131.25
3. $1 000
2. $2 126.65
3. $149.85 Advanced
4. $13 755 1. 2 kg at $6.32
2. no
Investigation
3. $367.50
Tane Sarah
Investigation
Car $14 990 Car $14 990
1. a. Lexus
Automatic $2 135 Alloys $1 350
Fog $605 Rear-view $1 995 b. Audi
Tint $605 c. Mercedes
Total $18 335 Total $18 335 d. Porsche
e. Mercedes
MO N E Y 2 – PAG E 6 2. a. $143 000
Proficient b. $1 810 000
1. $115
MO N E Y 4 – PAG E 8
2. $4.60
3. $19.50 Proficient
1. $1 600
Advanced
2. $804.50
1. 10 000
3. $76.50
2. no
3. $502.00 Advanced
4. $1.20 1. $12.50
2. Milo: $432
Investigation
Ethan: $216
a. Maddison $30.30
3. $210
b. Lorenzo $40.40
c. Benjamin $25
d. Sophia $24.24
e. Sam $30.30

© E s s e nt i a l Re s o u rce s E d u cat i o n a l Pu b l i s h e r Ltd 49

AN SWE RS

Investigation

Worker Weekly pay Tax Take-home pay

Michael $640 $640 × 0.25 = $160 $480
Margaret $800 $800 × 0.30 = $240 $560
Kosta $1 000 $1 000 × 0.50 = $500 $500
Kevin $400 $400 × 0.25 = $100 $300
Chen $350 $350 × 0.20 = $70 $280

PAT T E RN S AN D ALG E B R A 1 – PAG E 9 Investigation

Proficient
Round 4 Round 5
1. 120 matchsticks
2. $32.20 6v5 3v6

3. 19 hexagons 1v4 4v2

4. 140 boxes
2v3 5v1
Advanced
1. 17 octagons PAT T E RN S AN D ALG E B R A 3 – PAG E 11
2. 665 km
Proficient
3. 18 1 L bottles
1. 52
4. $24
2. Anna: 13 years old
Investigation Li Jun: 3 years old
Kora: 8 years old
121 handshakes
3. 120 packs
PAT T E RN S AN D ALG E B R A 2 – PAG E 10
Advanced
Proficient 1. 6 L
1. $18 2. 550 m
2. $28 3. 51 chocolate ice creams
3. 108–110 pegs
4. $32 Investigation (Possible solutions)
a. 20 = 13 + 7 or 17 + 3
Advanced
b. 36 = 19 + 17 or 23 + 13
1. 7 tickets
c. 84 = 53 + 31 or 79 + 5
2. 41 976
3. $312
PAT T E RN S AN D ALG E B R A 4 – PAG E 12
4. Ali: 90, Aria: 30
Proficient
1. $3.20
2. 10 years old
3. 14 000
4. $36

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AN SWE RS

Advanced Advanced
1. 81 votes 1. 60 km/h
2. 39 blue balls 2. 4 320 km
3. 336 mL 3. 9:01
4. 60 trees 4. 7.5 min

Investigation Investigation
Mrs Savage and Otto Answers may vary. Two examples are:
Mrs Savage and Willow
Mrs West and Otto
Mrs West and Willow

N E GAT I VE N UM B E RS 1 – PAG E 13

Proficient
1. -1°C
2. -$10
3. -31
1st hour: 80 km 1st hour: 100 km
Advanced 2nd hour: 120 km 2nd hour: 80 km
1. -13.5°C 3rd hour: 40 km 3rd hour: 1/2 hour rest
60 km in 30 min
2. $50 loss
3. -15 T I M E 2 – PAG E 15

Investigation Proficient
Smackers Whackers 1. 6 weeks
2. 3 hrs 20 min
Batter Total Batter Total
3. 10 hrs
Matthew 8 Hannah 15
Harper 5 Riku 3 Advanced

Archie -3 Rosanne -5 1. 1 755 km

2. $213.75
Lagi -2 Aidan -1
3. $36
Arjun -5 Jackson -4
Total 3 Total 8
Whackers won by 5 points

T I M E 1 – PAG E 14

Proficient
1. 7 weeks
2. 6 January
3. 7.5 hrs
4. 9 years 10 months

© E s s e nt i a l Re s o u rce s E d u cat i o n a l Pu b l i s h e r Ltd 51

AN SWE RS

Investigation Advanced
Number of Fraction Decimal Percentage 1. 5:36 pm
minutes
2. 6:11 pm
1
5 12 3. 27 sec
1
6 10 0.1 10% 4. 15:25
1
10 6
1
Investigation
12 5 0.2 20%
1 Blue bus Red bus
15 4 .25 25%
1 · 0700 0700
20 3 0.33 33 13 %
1
0720 0730
30 2 .5 50%
2 · 0740 0800
v40 3 0.66 66 23 %
0800 0830
3
45 4 .75 75%
0820 0900
60 1 1.00 100%
0840 0930
0900 1000
T I M E 3 – PAG E 16
0920 1030
Proficient
1. 656 km/h 0940 1100

2. 820 km/h 1000 1130

3. 12 April 1020 1200
4. 9 hrs 20 min
DATA 1 – PAG E 18
Advanced
Proficient
1. 8:36 am
1. 100 million books
2. Saturday, 0630
2. 48 cars
3. $52/hr
3. 3 cars
4. 1 hr 30 min
4. 40 L
Investigation
Advanced
1. $330
2. 40 L
3. 30
4. $485 000
T I M E 4 – PAG E 17
Investigation
Proficient
a. 280
1. 6:13 am
b. 270
2. 15 hrs 30 min
c. 250
3. 12 July
4. 1 hr 15 min (75 min)

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AN SWE RS

DATA 2 – PAG E 19 DATA 4 – PAG E 21

Proficient Proficient
1. 59 1. 45
2. 93 km/h 2. $5
3. 83% 3. 17 bats

Advanced Advanced
1. 31 1. 12 images of people
2. 139 km 2. 54 people
3. 706 km 3. 2 852 km
Investigation
Investigation
Name Position Points a. 20

Jamal Centre 5 b. 15
c. 14
Allen Left forward 3
Henry Left guard 14 PE RCE N TAG E 1 – PAG E 2 2
Ryder Right forward 24
Proficient
Tui Right guard 24 1. 300 children
2. 12 broken mugs
DATA 3 – PAG E 2 0
3. 144 km
Proficient
Advanced
1. 23°C
1. 56 boys
2. 28 cars
2. $1 250
3. 26
3. $200
Advanced
Investigation
1. $3 800
2. $11 250 State Population
3. 48 netball players QLD 5 000 000
Investigation NSW 9 900 000
ACT 500 000
a. 6 000
b. 5 400 VIC 6 250 000
c. 3 600 TAS 500 000
SA 1 750 000
WA 2 500 000
NT 250 000

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AN SWE RS

PE RCE N TAG E 2 – PAG E 2 3 Investigation

Proficient Game 1 Magpies: 32 Keas: 30
1. $275 Winner: Magpies

2. $440 Game 2 Seagulls: 42 Kiwis :45

3. $595 Winner: Kiwis

Game 3 Bellbirds: 27 Silvereyes: 28
Advanced Winner: Silvereyes
1. $528
PE RCE N TAG E 4 – PAG E 2 5
2. $17 560
3. $800 Proficient
1. 23°C
Investigation
2. 15 children
Team Games % won Points Position
3. 12 clocks
Sharks 20 75% 30 4
Advanced
Magic 20 40% 16 7
1. $944
T-birds 20 100% 40 1
2. $12 591
Cats 20 80% 32 3
3. 7 500
Storm 20 0% 0 9
Investigation
Dragons 20 90% 36 2
Answers will vary. The target is to reduce
Dolphins 20 60% 24 5
consumption by 960 L daily. Obvious areas in
Marlins 20 30% 12 8 which to save include the leaking pipe, the
Ghosts 20 50% 20 6 sprinkler and shorter showers.

PE RCE N TAG E 3 – PAG E 24 PE RCE N TAG E 5 – PAG E 26

Proficient Proficient

1. 25 km 1. $110

2. $24 2. $75

3. 15 goals 3. 12 games
4. 5 million people
Advanced
1. $350 Advanced

2. 60 1. 20%

3. 3 000 girls 2. $350

3. $45 000
4. $12.50

Investigation
a. $600
b. $700

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AN SWE RS

R AT E S AN D R AT I OS 1 – PAG E 27 Investigation
Proficient 1. a. 5°C
1. 10 buses b. 3°C
2. 60 grey bricks c. 3°C
3. 75 cars 2. a. 11°C
b. 10°C
Advanced
c. 5°C
1. 16 children
2. 30 students T E M PE R AT U RE 2 – PAG E 2 9
3. 42 girls
Proficient
Investigation 1. 426 mm
2. 2.8 hrs
3. 8.5°C
Lynette
Petra Advanced
1. false
2. true
3. true

Investigation
Answers will vary.

T E M PE R AT U RE 3 – PAG E 3 0

Proficient
1. 55°C
T E M PE R AT U RE 1 – PAG E 2 8 2. 22°C
3. 13°C
Proficient
4. 14.5°C
1. 14.5°C
2. 65°C Advanced
3. 22.4°C 1. 25°C
2. 24°
Advanced
3. 16.8
1. 23°C
2. 11°C Investigation
3. 1.8°C a. 76°C
b. 86°C
c. 80°C
d. 68°C

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AN SWE RS

LE N GT H 1 – PAG E 31 ARE A 2 – PAG E 3 3

Proficient Proficient
1. 3 m 65 cm 1. 75 m2
2. 1 200 2. 10 ha
3. 46 m 3. 128 paving stones
4. 6 boxes
Advanced
Advanced 1. 70 cm2
1. 30 m 2. 7 423 979 km2
2. 465 cm 3. 809 444 km2
3. 1 600 m
Investigation
Investigation Answers will vary.
Answers will vary.
ARE A 3 – PAG E 3 4
ARE A 1 – PAG E 32 Proficient
Proficient 1. 9 m
1. 320 m 2
2. $6 000
2. 80 m2 3. 36 m2
3. 8 m
Advanced
4. 6 containers
1. 12 m × 10 m
Advanced 2. 32 cm2
1. 32 m2 3. 56 cm2
2. 3 ha
Investigation
3. 22 m2
a. $1 950 = (15 m2 + 9 m2 + 15 m2) × $50
Investigation b. $1 980 = (4 m2 + 9 m2 + 12 m2 + 8 m2)
Answers will vary. All houses will occupy 9 × $60
squares (see example). c. $1 620 = (6 m2 + 12 m2) × $90
40 m
FR AC T I O N S 1 – PAG E 3 5

Proficient
1. 15 years old
40 m
2. 4 993 Jets supporters
20 m 3. 24 games

80 m

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AN SWE RS

Advanced FR AC T I O N S 3 – PAG E 37

1. $9 Proficient
2. 90 g 1. 50 m2
3. 30 min 2. 40 red balls
3. 240 grandparents
Investigation
Jasmine: pink, 12; yellow, 8; red, 4 Advanced
Lily: red, 8; yellow, 6; pink, 6; orange, 4 1. 48 m
Fleur: yellow, 4; white, 6; purple, 4; blue, 3; 2. 180 m
pink, 4; red, 3 3. 18 eggs

Investigation
FR AC T I O N S 2 – PAG E 3 6

Proficient

Fraction Amount
$300

$300

$200

$800
1. 8 m

Kalina
2. 680 mL
3. $8 100

3
8

3
8

1
4
Advanced Fraction Amount
1. 2 pieces

$180
$150

$120

$120

$570
2. 296 mL
Kara

3. 12.6 m

Investigation

10
1
4

1
5

1
5

Emma $5 3
Fraction Amount

Alessia $8
$100

$100

$120

$360
$40

Mandy $5
Terry

Oliver $6
10

10
1
4

1
4

Haru $7
Bindi $8
expenses

a. T
Expense

Food

b. F
Total
Rent

Car
Tax

c. F
d. T a. false
e. T b. false
f. T c. true

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AN SWE RS

M A S S 1 – PAG E 3 8 Investigation
Proficient Coin Mass of pile Value
1. 63 kg 5 cents 84.90 g $1.50
2. 250 g 10 cents 141.25 g $2.50
3. 2 kg 150 g
20 cents 282.50 g $5.00
Advanced 50 cents 171.05 g $5.50
1. 28 tomatoes $1 90.00 g $10.00
2. 20 bags $2 99.00 g $30.00
3. 10.1 tonnes
Total value $54.50
Investigation
CH AN CE 1 – PAG E 4 0
Name Mass
Ruby 29.019 kg Proficient
1. 35 votes
Ari 29.581 kg
2. 16 girls
Timothy 29.7 kg
3. 12 blue marbles
Kia 30.5 kg
4. 20 silver marbles
Ming 31.275 kg
Advanced
Elijah 31.4 kg
1. 14 red marbles
a. >
2. 12 green frogs
b. <
3. 16 strawberry ice creams
c. <
d. < Investigation
e. > 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
f. <
H H H T H T T T

M A S S 2 – PAG E 39 H H T H T H T T

Proficient H T H H T T H T
1. 26 kg
2. 1 500 g or 1.5 kg G R A PH S AN D DATA 1 – PAG E 41
3. 70 g Answers will vary.

Advanced
VO LUM E AN D CA PACI T Y 1 – PAG E 42
1. 700 kg
Proficient
2. 60 washes
1. 9 containers
3. 125 g
2. 250 mL
3. 315 mL
4. 6 077 mm

58 © E s s e nt i a l Re s o u rce s E d u cat i o n a l Pu b l i s h e r Ltd

AN SWE RS

Advanced Advanced
1. 100 mL 1. $117
2. 6 000 cm 3
2. 9:12 am
3. 15 L 3. 794 km/h

Investigation Investigation
Ingredients Serves 4 Serves 16
Cold water 125 mL 500 mL
a.
Lemon juice 125 mL 500 mL
720° 900° 1 080°
Orange juice 250 mL 1L b. 1 260°
Lime juice 50 mL 200 mL c. 1 440°
Caster sugar 100 g 400 g
T I M E, PAT T E RN S AN D ALG E B R A 2 – PAG E 4 5
Eggs 12 48
Strawberries 4 16 Proficient
1. 4:09 pm
VO LUM E AN D CA PACI T Y 2 – PAG E 4 3 2. 793 km/h

Proficient 3. 2.5 km

1. 9 mugs 4. 4:50 pm

2. 100 min or 1 hr 40 min Advanced

3. 120 sachets 1. yes
4. 300 mL 2. 195 km

Advanced 3. 400 mL

1. Anna’s model Investigation

2. 6 cartons a. April 3, 10, 17, 24
3. 900 shoe boxes May 1, 8, 15, 22, 29
4. 60 m3 June 5
b. 26 June
Investigation
a. 1 000 L or 1 000 000 mL or 1 kL D E CI M AL S 1 – PAG E 4 6
b. 1 tonne
Proficient
1. 105 goals
T I M E, PAT T E RN S AN D ALG E B R A 1 – PAG E 4 4
2. 28.75°C
Proficient
3. 19.8°C
1. 2 240 km
2. 5 12 hrs
3. 660 km/h

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AN SWE RS

Advanced LE N GT H/ T I M E 1 – PAG E 4 8

1. Brittany Proficient
2. 8.4 cm 1. 165 km
3. 146.2 km 2. 3 min 51 sec
3. 78 sec
Investigation
Score Place Advanced
Australia 29.275 1st 1. 34 sec

Bermuda 27.73 4th 2. 8 500 m

3. 17 sec
Canada 29.05 2nd
Denmark 27.895 3rd Investigation
England 27.695 5th Mia will win by 5 sec.
Mum took 100 sec
D E CI M AL S 2 – PAG E 47 Mia took 75 sec but waited 20 sec
before starting.
Proficient
1. 26 L
2. 55.2 m
3. $1.60

Advanced
1. $6.30
2. 30 km
3. $9.50
4. 25.1°C

Investigation
a. 8.848 km
b. 14.787 km
c. 16.989 km
d. 24.736 km

60 © E s s e nt i a l Re s o u rce s E d u cat i o n a l Pu b l i s h e r Ltd

Maths Problems and Investigations
Maths Problems and Investigations – Lower Secondary is designed to support
students who need practice to build their skills and strategies. The engaging
problem-solving activities take students through a deliberate process of reading
the problem, identifying relevant information, selecting appropriate strategies,
solving the problem and checking the reasonableness of their solutions.
Differentiated activities to build students’ skills and strategies
Most pages provide problems at a Proficient level and an Advanced level along
with an Investigation. With the proficient problems, students are generally solving Lower Secondary
one-step problems in which they need to use one mathematical operation and
the language indicates the required operation. The advanced problems involve
more sophisticated language and may involve more than one operation in order to
calculate the answer.
The investigations draw students in to address real-life situations. To successfully
solve the investigations, they must think and work mathematically, as well as use
their knowledge of a range of mental and written strategies and demonstrate their
overall competence in mathematics.

Code: EB51133
ISBN: 978-1-77655-665-6

Greg Purcell