The Remainder Concept

The Remainder Concept is derived from the

Part-Whole Concept . Very often, questions which require the use of this Concept have the word "remainder" embedded in them. In this concept, we first draw a model to represent the whole and mark out the parts that were used or taken away from the whole. Then the "remainder part" of the model is subdivided according to the requirements given in the question. Eventually, all the known parts should be properly labelled with values and all the unknown parts should be divided equally so that we can work out their values.

To illustrate this concept, consider the following question,

Brandon gave 1/5 of his monthly salary to his mother. He gave 3/4 of the remainder to his wife and saved the rest each month. He managed to save $400 every month. How much did he earn a month?


Step 1: Draw a long bar to represent the total of his salary.

remainder-concept-001


Step 2: Divide the model into 5 equal parts and label 1 part as given to his mother.

remainder-concept-002


Step 3: Notice that there are 4 units left after giving 1/5 of his salary to his mother. Since he gave 3/4 of his salary to his wife, we label 3 of the remaining 4 units as given to his wife(3/4 is 3 out of 4 equal units).

remainder-concept-003


Step 4: Since he had $400 left after that and there is only 1 unit of the model left, the last unit must be equal to $400.

remainder-concept-004


Hence,

1 unit ----------> $400

5 units ----------> 5 X $400 = $2000

Therefore, Brandon earns $2000 a month.





Go To Top - Remainder Concept




If you want us to send you our future Modelmatics eZine that would inform you on the latest article in Teach Kids Math By Model Method, do an easy sign-up below. Subscription is FREE!

Enter your E-mail Address Here
Enter your Name Here
Then

Don't worry — your e-mail address is totally secure.
I promise to use it only to send you ModelMatics.
Enjoy this page? Please pay it forward. Here's how...

Would you prefer to share this page with others by linking to it?

  1. Click on the HTML link code below.
  2. Copy and paste it, adding a note of your own, into your blog, a Web page, forums, a blog comment, your Facebook account, or anywhere that someone would find this page valuable.