Sea Shells

A Maths Starter of The Day

Blake and Jordan collect sea shells. Blake began a holiday with 522 shells and Jordan began with 26 shells.

Sea shellEach day of the holiday Blake found 26 shells and Jordan found 57 shells on the beach. By the end of the holidays they had the same number of shells in total.

How long was the holiday?

 

 

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Keywords: Starter | Algebra

  • The Best Maths Class Ever 7cd/M2, King Alfred's College Oxfordshire
  • Friday, May 15, 2009
  • "I felt that there was a good use of algebra in this starter. Most of the people in our class did not understand this starter. But the majority of us got there in the end."
  • Mr Bell, Holryrood
  • Thursday, May 21, 2009
  • "We here at holyrood thought it was cool fun but a few thought that it could be better if it was more challenging as the pupils enjoy this type of puzzle."

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Answer

Let the length of the holiday be x days.

At the end of the holiday Blake had 522 + 26x

At the end of the holiday Jordan had 26 + 57x

26 + 57x = 522 + 26x

57x = 496 + 26x

31x = 496

x = 16

The holiday lasted sixteen days.

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