All concepts combined

Every question here joins two methods from the Four Operations of Whole Numbers chapter, and the answer to the first is the starting number of the second. A transfer between two boxes is followed by grouping coins by value; a set of handshakes is followed by sharing money; a wrong cut of a ribbon is followed by one expression with brackets. The question never names the methods, so your child decides what the first part must find before choosing how to find it.

• Read to the last sentence first, then ask which number must be known before that question can be answered.
• When items move from one store to another, the total stays the same, so the total can be shared out in the new comparison.
• In a supposition step, suppose every item is the cheaper kind and use the money left over to count the other kind.
• Grouping by value treats one group of each kind as a set, so the number of sets is the total value divided by one set's value.
• Write a calculation with several operations as one expression, using brackets for the part that must be worked out first.

In the warehouse question, the two stores still hold 7200 bricks after the move, so the new amounts must add back to 7200: 2400 and 4800 do, and 4800 is twice 2400 as stated. Moving 800 back gives Warehouse A 3200 at first, which must be more than its 2400 after giving bricks away.

All eight questions in this set are Intermediate. Two move items between stores and then group or price what one store held at first. Two use supposition: crates that arrive whole or broken, and pens and erasers bought with the money left after an equal spend. One undoes a chain of operations to find a number, then puts it into an expression with brackets. One counts handshakes in a club before sharing the money they raise. One finds a badge and keyring price from two purchases before counting gift packs, and one finds a ribbon's length from a wrong number of cuts before writing the change as one expression. Ask your child to label the answer to part one in words, such as Box A at first, so it is not confused with a later number.

Why do these questions feel harder than the single-method pages? Each one hides a second question inside it. The first method gives a number the question never prints, and the second method needs it. Finding and labelling that hidden number is most of the work.

Which methods from the chapter appear here? Transfers where the total stays the same, supposition, grouping by value, working backwards from a wrong step, two purchases compared, and order of operations with brackets. Each question uses two of them.

Can my child use a calculator for these? No. The Primary 5 outcomes on order of operations and brackets are without a calculator, so the numbers are chosen to be worked by hand.