Question

Joani has some stuffed animals. She has 2 times as many as Lily. Lily has 6 stuffed animals. Joanie gave 2 away and bought 4 more. How many stuffed animals does Joani have now?
Students's solution: Lily has 6 stuffed animals, so Joani had 6 × 2 to begin with. So Joani had 12 stuffed animals. She gave away 2, so 12 – 2 = 10. She bought 4, so 10 + 4 = 14. So Joani has 14 stuffed animals.

Here is another problem that can also be solved by working backwards.

Wyatt has 3 times as many baseballs as golf balls. He has 5 fewer tennis balls than baseballs. Wyatt has 4 golf balls.

How many tennis balls does Wyatt have?

Answer 1

We start with his golf balls. He has four, so three times that number is 12. He has 12 baseballs. If we subtract 5 from 12, we can find how many tennis balls he has. So, Wyatt has 7 tennis balls.

Answer 2

7 tennis balls. 4 golf balls x 3 = 12 baseballs. 12 baseballs -5 = 7 tennis balls.