Hi Guys,

I used to teach high school math and got good at word problems. It becomes a REAL problem when you can't look in the back of the book for an answer. Most people want to start by writing down the formula. This isn't how REAL problems are solved. I had a college class about solving problems where I leaned this technique. It comes from one of the last great pure mathematicians http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/How_to_Solve_It.

Here are my steps.

1. Look for the question mark in the problem first. In Cheezeburgers text he has no question marks. He doesn't know what he needs to find.
2. Make a simpler problem. My problem would be, "How much does it cost to cut 10 pounds of metal?"

The method starts by using a guess. In my classes I would always use 10! You and I know that 10 is the wrong answer but checking to see if 10 is the correct answer then gives the process for building the formula.

Because Cheeseberger didn't ask a simple question, it was hidden in the "Break Even analysis" it may be two questions. Guess a number! See if it is the correct guess. If it isn't you now have a method for checking

After re-reading the problem it looks like the question is WHEN. Guess 1 Year. See if that is a good guess. Break the problem down into it's parts. Read the link.

hope this helps.

BTW - most of my students never liked to guess, they always just wanted the formula. Students that couldn't guess and answer and check it, never got very good at word problems.