Student _________________________________ Student _______________________________
Brown Bag Problem Solving #1
Augie Races the Train
Augie wants to catch a train that leaves at 10:45 A.M. and must ride his bike to the station, which is 6
miles away.
• The first 2 miles are uphill, the next 2 miles are flat, and the last 2 miles are downhill.
• Augie can ride at 2 miles per hour (MPH) going uphill, 3 MPH on level ground, and
4 MPH going downhill.
• He figures his average speed will be 3 MPH, so he plans to leave his house at 8:40 A.M.
He thinks he will then have five minutes to lock his bike and get on the train.
Will he catch the train? Why or why not?
Show your work using words, numbers, and/or pictures.
Will Augie catch the train? _____________
Why or why not?
Brown Bag Problem Solving – Set A
Student _________________________________ Student _______________________________
Brown Bag Problem Solving #2
Horse Problem
A man buys a horse for 50 dollars. Decides he wants to sell his horse later and
gets 60 dollars. He then decides to buy it back again and paid 70 dollars.
However, he could no longer keep it and he sold it for 80 dollars.
Did he make money? lose money? or break even?
Explain why. Show your work using words, numbers, and/or pictures.
Did he make money? ___________________
If so, how much? ______________
Lose money? __________________________
If so, how much? ______________
Break Even? ___________________________
Brown Bag Problem Solving – Set A
Student _________________________________ Student _______________________________
Brown Bag Problem Solving #3
Handshake Problem
At the conclusion of a party, a total of 28 handshakes were exchanged. Assuming
that each person was equally polite toward all the others, how many people
were present?
Show your work using words, numbers, and/or pictures.
How many people were at the party? _____________
Brown Bag Problem Solving – Set A
Student _________________________________ Student _______________________________
Brown Bag Problem Solving #4
Locker Problem
There is a school with 100 students, and correspondingly 100 lockers,
1
2
3
4
all of which start off closed.
• The first student opens every locker.
• The second student closes every other locker, starting with the second.
• The third student changes the state of every third locker, starting with the third. That is, if the
locker is open, she closes it, and if it is closed, she opens it.
This continues similarly until all 100 students have passed along the lockers.
After the 100th student is done, which lockers are open and which are closed?
Show your work using words, numbers, and/or pictures.
At the end, which lockers will be open? _____________
Brown Bag Problem Solving – Set A
Student _________________________________ Student _______________________________
Brown Bag Problem Solving #5
Box of Chocolates
A decadent box of chocolates adorned the kitchen counter.
• When Jake saw it, he ate 1/6 of the box.
• Then along came Joe and he ate 1/5 of what Jake left.
• Along came Jill who ate 1/4 of the chocolates that remained.
• Later that day, Jeff ate 1/3 of the remaining chocolates.
• By the time I got there, I managed to eat 1/2 of what remained. When
my sister Sandy came along, only 4 chocolates remained in the box.
Just how many chocolates did Jake manage to eat?
Show your work using words, numbers, and/or pictures.
How many chocolates did Jake eat? _____________
Brown Bag Problem Solving – Set A