Solving Multi-Step Word Problems with Multiplication: Firewood Example

Calculating Initial Firewood

• 🪵 The camping group starts by gathering three bundles of firewood.
• 🎯 Each bundle contains 17 logs.
• 🧮 To find the total starting amount, multiply the number of bundles by the logs per bundle: 3 bundles * 17 logs/bundle.

Performing the Multiplication

• 🔢 The calculation 17 * 3 is performed.
• ➕ In the ones place, 7 * 3 = 21. The 1 is kept, and the 2 is regrouped to the tens place.
• ➕ In the tens place, 1 * 3 = 3. Adding the regrouped 2 tens results in 3 + 2 = 5 tens.
• 💡 The total starting amount of firewood is 51 logs.

Subtracting Used Firewood

• 🪵 Nine logs are used to start a campfire.
• ➖ To find the remaining logs, subtract the used logs from the starting amount: 51 logs - 9 logs.

Final Calculation and Result

• 🧠 The subtraction 51 - 9 is calculated.
• 💡 One method is to subtract 10 (getting 41) and then add back 1 (since only 9 were subtracted), resulting in 42.
• 💡 Alternatively, using traditional subtraction with regrouping, 11 - 9 = 2 in the ones place, and 4 tens remain, yielding 42.
• ✅ There are 42 logs left after starting the campfire.