1.
A caravan loads 6 camels for the journey. Each camel carries 145 kilograms of silk. At the first oasis the traders sell 230 kilograms. How many kilograms of silk is the caravan still carrying?
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Answer:
Did you know? A camel can carry about 400 kilograms, but caravans loaded them lighter so they could walk for weeks without wearing out.
2.
57 traders are waiting to cross the desert. Each guide can safely lead 8 traders at a time. How many guides does the caravan need so that every trader has a guide?
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Answer:
Did you know? Desert guides navigated by the stars. The North Star sits almost still in the sky all night, so it always points the same way.
3.
A merchant named Bilal packs 72 bolts of cloth equally into 8 crates. At the market he sells 3 whole crates. How many bolts of cloth does he have left?
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Answer:
Did you know? For hundreds of years only China knew how to make silk. The secret was that it comes from the cocoon of a caterpillar.
4.
Two water skins are exactly the same size. Yusuf's water skin is 1/2 full. Hamza's water skin is 3/8 full. Whose water skin has more water in it?
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Answer:
Did you know? Travellers carried water in bags made of animal skin. The water seeped through very slowly, and that tiny bit of evaporation kept the rest cool.
5.
A rectangular carpet is being woven for a merchant's tent. Its area is 96 square feet, and one side measures 8 feet. How long is the other side?
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Answer:
Did you know? A hand-knotted carpet can hold over a million knots. A weaver ties every single one by hand.
1.
A caravan travels 34 miles every day for 26 days. After resting, it travels a final 88 miles to reach the city gates. How many miles did the caravan travel altogether?
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Answer:
Did you know? The Silk Road was not one road. It was a web of routes stretching more than 4,000 miles.
2.
A trader has 1,462 glass beads. He packs them equally into 7 boxes, and any beads left over go into a small pouch. How many beads are in each box, and how many end up in the pouch?
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Answer:
Did you know? Glass beads were once so valuable along these routes that they were traded like money.
3.
On the first day a caravan covers 1/3 of the route. On the second day it covers another 2/5 of the route. What fraction of the whole route has it covered so far?
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Answer:
Did you know? Very few traders walked the whole road. Goods were handed from caravan to caravan, so a bolt of silk might change owners a dozen times.
4.
Saffron costs 4.75 silver coins per gram at one stall and 4.8 silver coins per gram at another. Khadija buys 1 gram from the cheaper stall and pays with a 10-coin piece. How much change does she get back?
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Answer:
Did you know? Saffron is still the most expensive spice on earth. It takes around 75,000 flowers to make one pound of it.
5.
Each camel drinks 9 litres of water per day. The caravan has 4 camels and is carrying 500 litres of water. For how many full days can they water every camel, and how many litres are left over?
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Answer:
Did you know? A camel's hump stores fat, not water. It can drink 100 litres in about ten minutes when it finally reaches a well.
3rd Grade
1. 640 kilograms
145 × 6 = 870 kg loaded · 870 − 230 = 640 kg. Watch for: subtracting 230 from 145 first.
2. 8 guides
57 ÷ 8 = 7 remainder 1. Seven guides cover 56 traders; 1 trader is still waiting, so an 8th guide is needed. The remainder is the whole point — "7" is the trap answer.
3. 45 bolts
72 ÷ 8 = 9 bolts per crate · 3 × 9 = 27 sold · 72 − 27 = 45 bolts. Three operations; the order is the test.
4. Yusuf's
1/2 = 4/8. Compare 4/8 with 3/8 → 4/8 is larger, so Yusuf's has more. Watch for: picking Hamza because 3 and 8 are bigger numbers than 1 and 2.
5. 12 feet
Area = length × width, so 96 ÷ 8 = 12 feet. Watch for: subtracting (96 − 8) instead of dividing.
4th Grade
1. 972 miles
34 × 26 = 884 (34 × 20 = 680, 34 × 6 = 204, 680 + 204 = 884) · 884 + 88 = 972 miles.
2. 208 per box, 6 in the pouch
1,462 ÷ 7 = 208 remainder 6. Check: 7 × 208 = 1,456, and 1,462 − 1,456 = 6. Both numbers are part of the answer.
3. 11/15 of the route
Common denominator 15: 1/3 = 5/15 and 2/5 = 6/15 · 5/15 + 6/15 = 11/15. Watch for: 3/8 — adding the tops and the bottoms straight across.
4. 5.25 silver coins
Compare first: 4.75 < 4.80, so the cheaper stall is the 4.75 one · 10 − 4.75 = 5.25. Watch for: reading 4.8 as smaller than 4.75 because it has fewer digits.
5. 13 full days, 32 litres left over
9 × 4 = 36 litres per day · 500 ÷ 36 = 13 remainder 32. Check: 36 × 13 = 468, and 500 − 468 = 32. Watch for: answering 13.8 days — the question asks for full days.