Christmas Math Word Problem

Hello Community Members,

Since it is around Christmas time and there is plenty of songs, decorations, etc. celebrating the upcoming holiday, I thought it would be fun to add math problems to the mix.  Each day, I will post a new math problem below.  Together we can work them out and come up with creative fun ways to use them in the classroom!  Please participate and if you have a problem you'd like to share just posted it below.  I hope this will be fun and beneficial.

Brooke Istas
Moderator, Math and Numeracy COP

Comments

Here is the first activity!  The song, "Twelve Days of Christmas", looks like this:

Day Present First A Partridge in a Pear Tree Second Two Turtle Dove Third Three French Hens Fourth Four Calling Birds Fifth Five Golden Rings Sixth Six Geese a-Laying Seventh Seven Swans a-Swimming Eighth Eight Maids a-Milking Ninth Nine Ladies Dancing Tenth Ten Lords a-Leaping Eleventh Eleven Pipers Piping Twelfth Twelve Drummers Drumming

It looks like the true love is generous! Let's look at some math questions:

  1. How many gifts did your true-love give you all together (count each gift just once, not multiple times for many verses in the song)?
  2. It seems that you are now the owner of many birds.  How many birds do you have?
  3. You will need to feed your birds.  Each bird eats 3 worms every day.  How many worms will you need each day to feed all your birds?
  4. Each Maid a-Milking comes with her own cow.  It is cold out in December, so you decide to buy slippers for all the cows.  How many cow slippers will you need?
  5. Cow slippers cost $2.50 per pair.  How much money do you need?
  6. You decided to sell the golden rings to the mailman for $6.53 each.  How much money did you make?
  7. Do you have enough for the cow slippers?
  8. The drummers drum all the time!  Everyone is complaining You decide to give all the people (except the drummers) earplugs.  How many pairs of earplugs do you need?  Don't forget to include yourself!
  9. Earplugs cost $2.37 for a box of 5 pairs.  How many boxes will you need?
  10. How much will you spend on the earplugs?
  11. Everyday each of the Maids a-Milking gets 3 gallons of milk from cow.  How much milk to the Maids get in one day?
  12.  It takes 6 gallons of milk to make 1 pound of cheese.  You would like to give a pound of cheese to all the Lords a-Leaping and the Pipers Playing.  How many gallons of milk will you need?
  13. How many days of milking will it take to get enough milk to make all this cheese?

Source:  https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/FreeDownload/FREE-12-Days-of-Christmas-Math-Story-Problems-with-Answer-Key  FREE

Oh Deer! 
A logic problem by Mike Shenk in GAMES (Dec. 1992)

Twas the night before Christmas, and at the North Pole
The last-minute planning was taking its toll.
As Santa was hastily making a scheme
For the placement of deer in his sleigh-pulling team,
The good Mrs. Claus was crocheting bright bows
To be worn by these reindeer (four bucks and four does).

The ribbons were colored in eight festive hues:
One ocher, one rose, one cerise, one chartreuse,
One maroon, one magenta, one white, and one blue.
(These ribbons helped Santa keep track of who's who.)
The deer pulled the toy-laden sleigh in four rows,
Arranged so no row held two bucks or does.

The order of pullers was changed year by year,
For Santa was thoroughly fair with his deer.
He summoned the elves and instructed them thus:
"Let's hitch up the reindeer with minimum fuss.
The bow on the buck behind Dasher is white,
While Blitzen, a doe, sees cerise to her right.

The blue bow is nearer my sleigh than is Dancer,
But nearer the front of my team than is Prancer.
The doe in chartreuse gets a front-of-team honor,
But not on the same side as Cupid or Donner.
Now Comet stands two spots ahead of the rose.
And three deer of four on the right side are does.

The cerise bow is worn two in back of maroon,
One of which is beside the bright ocher festoon.
Oh-Cupid's in front of a buck, by the way.
Well, that's how they line up for pulling my sleigh.
I trust that you elves, being clever, now know
Each reindeer's position and color of bow."

In no time each colorful ribbon was tied
And the team was hitched up for the transglobal ride.
Can you ascertain where each member fits in?
Who's Comet? Who's Cupid" Where's Donner? And Blitzen?
Who's Dasher? Who's Dancer" Where's Vixen? And Prancer?
With logical thought, you'll determine the answer
And write down the color and place for each deer.
Happy Christmas to all, and to all much good cheer! 

Solution to the Problem:

Row Position Name Buck/Doe Ribbon Color Front Row Left Dasher Buck Magenta ribbon Front Row Right Comet Doe Chartreuse ribbon 2nd Row Left Cupid Buck White ribbon 2nd Row Right Dancer Doe Maroon ribbon 3rd Row Left Donner Buck Blue ribbon 3rd Row Right Vixen Doe Rose ribbon 4th Row Left Blitzen Doe Ocher ribbon 4th Row Right Prancer Buck Cerise ribbon
 

Amy, Carol, Michael, and Sarah each have their own Christmas tree. 
Each Christmas tree has a different number of candy canes (13, 15, 17, and 18) and a different number of ornaments (23, 32, 39, and 40).

Figure out how many candy canes and ornaments are on each person's Christmas tree.

  1. The Christmas tree with thirty-two ornaments is not the tree with fifteen candy canes.

  2. There are no more than thirty-nine ornaments on Amy's Christmas tree.

  3. Carol's Christmas tree has the fewest number of ornaments.

  4. Sarah's Christmas tree has twenty-two more ornaments than the number of candy canes.

  5. There are no more than thirty-nine ornaments on Michael's Christmas tree.

  6. Carol's Christmas tree has the fewest number of candy canes.

  7. Michael's Christmas tree has fifteen more ornaments than the number of candy canes.

You may use the table below to help solve this problem.

 

                Name         13 Candy Canes        15  Candy Canes       17 Candy Canes        18   Ornaments      23  Ornaments       32  Ornaments      39   Ornaments      40  Orna       Amy                                                                         Carol                                                                         Michael                                                                         Sarah                                                                    

 

1. When the Christmas cake was about to be served, you were told you could have 0.6, 60%, 3/5, 6%. Which 3 will give you the same size portion?

2. 4/7 of the Christmas cake was eaten on Christmas day. The next day your dad ate 1/2 of what was left. You get to finish the cake, how much is left?

3. The Christmas Tree store has a parking lot that will hold 1000 vehicles. 2/5 of the parking spaces are for cars. When you went to buy your tree, there were 200 cars and some trucks in the parking lot. The parking lot was 3/4 full. How many trucks were in it?

4. Justin is making snowballs to build a fort on the Christmas holiday. Justin can build 15 snowballs in an hour but 2 snowballs melt every 15 minutes. How long will it take him to build 210 snowballs?

5. The recipe for mint chocolate ice cream requires 2 1/4 cups of creams for 5 people. You need ice cream for 8 people.

Here is a link to the pdf version:  http://math.about.com/library/xmas7.pdf

Here is the link to the website:  http://math.about.com/od/christmasmathworksheets/a/xmas7.htm

 

Since understanding graphs and data are important outcomes here are several Christmas related worksheets that utilize different types of graphs:

  • Circle Graphs -  This activity helps learners to understand the relationship between circle graphs and percentages - Students will construct circle graph.
  • Data in Charts - This activity is great practice for learners to use data in a chart to answer questions.
  • Data in a Bar Chart - This activity is practice reading bar charts to answer questions.
  • Data in a Pie Chart - This activity is practice for reading pie charts to answer questions.

I hope this information is helpful to you!  If you have questions or have a problem you use for the holidays please post your comments and let me know.

Happy Holidays!
Brooke
Moderator, Math and Numeracy COP