Story problems about distance, time, and money
In 4th grade, children learn to solve word problems about distance, time, liquid volume, weight, and money using all four operations, including some with simple fractions or decimals.
By Robert “Bobby” BarnettMath teacher, parent, and founder of Bobby’s Math Club
Try these with your child
These are real questions from our 4th grade practice. Tap the speaker to hear one read aloud, or the light bulb for a hint, and talk about the answer together.
Question 1 of 3
At the deli, Leila buys 3/8 pound of cheese and 5/8 pound of turkey. How many pounds of food does she buy in all?
- 8/16 pound
- 1 pound
- 8 pounds
Why this matters
These are the problems your child will meet outside school: working out change, figuring out how long until practice ends, or how many cups a bottle will fill. They bring multiplying, dividing, fractions, and decimals together in one place. In 5th grade the same kind of problems include more fractions and decimals, and in middle school they lead to rates, such as miles per hour and price per pound.
Where kids can get stuck
- Subtracting times like ordinary numbers, so 5:20 minus 3:45 becomes 520 − 345 and comes out as 1:75.
- Calculating before converting units, such as dividing 2 liters by 250 milliliters without first changing 2 liters to 2,000 milliliters.
- Lining up money amounts wrongly, treating $6.75 and $5 as 675 and 5, which gives a wildly wrong amount of change.
How you can help
- Let your child figure out change at a store or market. If something costs $3.60 and you pay with a $5 bill, ask them to count up from $3.60 to $5.00 to find $1.40.
- Work out elapsed time for real events, such as how long until dinner or how long a soccer practice lasts. Encourage your child to count on in jumps to the next hour.
- Pour drinks from a large bottle while cooking or at a party. Ask how many cups of a given size it will fill, reading the bottle's label in liters or milliliters.
Bobby's Math Club offers free practice that grows with your child.
Questions parents ask
Why is my child learning measurement word problems this way?
Teachers often ask for a number line or a sketch because measurement problems mix units and steps. A number line for time, money, or distance shows the jumps clearly, so your child can count on rather than subtract tricky numbers like times. The drawing also helps them notice when they need to convert units, such as liters to milliliters, before calculating.
Why is elapsed time so hard for my child?
Time does not follow the base-ten pattern of other numbers. An hour has 60 minutes, so subtracting times like ordinary numbers often goes wrong. Counting on in jumps works better: from 3:45 to 4:00 is 15 minutes, from 4:00 to 5:00 is 1 hour, and from 5:00 to 5:20 is 20 minutes, for a total of 1 hour 35 minutes. Practicing with real clocks helps a lot.
What kinds of fractions and decimals appear in these problems?
In 4th grade, they stay simple: fractions such as 1/2, 1/4, or 3/8 of a unit, and decimals mostly as money, like $2.50. A problem might ask how far someone walks if they walk 3/4 mile a day for 4 days, or how much 3 notebooks cost at $1.25 each. These match the fraction and decimal skills your child is learning this year.
Make learning math fun
Bobby's Math Club turns 4th grade math practice into something fun to do together.
- Unlimited practice, completely free
- Practice that starts where your child is and grows with them
- Hints when they are stuck, and a celebration when it clicks
Written by Robert “Bobby” Barnett
Bobby is an award-winning math teacher, the author of Meet Every Learner’s Needs, and the father of two elementary-school math learners. He uses Bobby’s Math Club with his own kids a few times every week. Learn more or contact Bobby.
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Your 4th grade child can start today with free, unlimited practice that grows with them.
Join the clubNote for teachers: This skill is covered by Common Core math standard 4.MD.A.2: “Use the four operations to solve word problems involving distances, intervals of time, liquid volumes, masses of objects, and money, including problems involving simple fractions or decimals, and problems that require expressing measurements given in a larger unit in terms of a smaller unit. Represent measurement quantities using diagrams such as number line diagrams that feature a measurement scale.” Learn how Bobby's Math Club can help your students grow. (Common Core 4.MD.2)