Combine two graphs to find totals
Mr. Park's class surveyed the number of each snack they bought at the school store and the price of one of each snack. The results are shown in the two bar graphs below. Find how much money the class spent buying bread.
Number of snacks bought (unit: items)
| Snack | Crackers | Juice | Bread | Ice cream |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Count |
Price of one snack (unit: dollars)
| Snack | Crackers | Juice | Bread | Ice cream |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Price |
The data are shown as two bar graphs. The first (horizontal) bar graph shows how many of each snack were bought; the second (vertical) bar graph shows the price of one of each snack in dollars.
Show solution
Understand
Two bar graphs give, for each snack, how many were bought and the price of one snack. We must find the total money spent on bread by combining bread's count with bread's unit price.
- Counts bought: crackers 12, juice 14, bread 16, ice cream 10.
- Prices each: crackers 0.80, bread 1.20.
- We want the money spent on bread only.
- The total amount of money the class spent buying bread.
- Bread count and bread price must come from the same snack (bread).
- Total cost = number bought times price of one.
Plan
#8 Analyze the Units · also uses: #7 Identify Subproblems
The two graphs supply different units - items and dollars-per-item - and linking the right bread values multiplies to dollars. Checking units (items times dollars/item = dollars) confirms the setup, and reading the matching bread bars is the key subproblem.
Execute
Review
16 breads at about 0.70 = 0.75 = 11.20 is in the right range and the units are dollars.
Identify subproblems / repeated addition (tool 7): add 7.00 plus 6 breads = 11.20.
Standards · min grade 4
3.MD.B.3Draw and interpret scaled picture graphs and bar graphs — Reading the bread count and bread unit price from the two bar graphs.4.OA.A.3Solve multi-step word problems using four operations with whole numbers — Multiplying the bread count by the bread unit price to get the total money spent.