Children and the Apples Word Problem

by Christopher Carter
(Hillsdale, Michigan, United States)

Once upon a time, there was a family of children. The oldest of these children was in charge of making sure that each of the other children did what they were supposed to do. There were 10 different children. Each of them had to pick a certain amount of apples every day.

Charlie had to pick 50
Jane had to pick 40
Carly had to pick 35
John had to pick 30
Ashley had to pick 25
Christopher had to pick 20
Aaron had to pick 15
Alyssa had to pick 10
James had to pick 5

Between all the children, they had to have a grand total of 630 apples.

How many apples did Cameryn (the oldest) have to pick?


Add up the total amount of apples that you know
50 + 40 + 35 + 30 + 25 + 20 + 15 +10 + 5 = 550

Subtract the answer above from the total amount of apples.
630 - 550 = 80

Cameryn had to pick 80 apples every day.