Word problems with extra or missing information

Key notes :

🧩 What Are Word Problems with Extra Information?

• These are problems that give more details than needed.
• Not all numbers or facts are useful to find the answer.
• Students must identify useful information and ignore the rest.

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❓ What Are Word Problems with Missing Information?

• These problems do not give all the details needed to solve.
• You must think carefully and sometimes figure out what is missing.
• Sometimes the missing information can be found using clues in the question.

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🔍 How to Solve Problems with Extra Information

✔️ Read the problem carefully.
✔️ Underline or highlight important numbers.
✔️ Cross out or ignore unnecessary information.
✔️ Identify the operation: addition, subtraction, multiplication, or division.
✔️ Solve using only the required data.

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💡 Clues for Extra Information

• A number is extra if it does not help answer the final question.
• Look for information about different people, objects, or events that are not part of the question.
• If the number is not connected to the question, it is extra.

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🕵️‍♂️ How to Handle Missing Information

✔️ Check if the problem can be solved with the given information.
✔️ Identify the unknown detail (What do we need?).
✔️ Look for hints in the wording to guess the missing part.
✔️ If important data is not given or cannot be found, the problem is incomplete.

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🧠 Clues for Missing Information

• A key number (like total, part, or difference) is not given.
• The problem asks something impossible to answer with the given facts.
• The story feels incomplete or confusing.

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📘 Example of Extra Information

👉 Ravi has 12 pencils. His sister has 5 erasers. Ravi gave 3 pencils to his friend. How many pencils does he have now?

• 5 erasers → ❌ extra
• Use: 12 – 3 = 9 pencils

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📘 Example of Missing Information

👉 Meera has some balloons. She gave 4 to her friend. Now she has 6 left. How many did she have at first?

• Missing information: Total balloons at first
• But we can calculate: 6 + 4 = 10 balloons

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📝 Why Is This Skill Important?

• It helps students learn to think critically.
• Improves problem-solving skills.
• Helps avoid errors by focusing only on the useful information.

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🎯 Tips for Grade 4 Students

🌈 Read twice
🌈 Underline important numbers
🌈 Ask: What is the question asking?
🌈 Ignore distractors
🌈 Replace missing data using clues
🌈 Check your answer

Learn with an example

Let’s practice!🖊️