First Name: ____________________
Last Name:________________________________ Grade: _______
Teacher: ______________________ Parent’s email: ___________________________________________
Winter
Winter, the coldest season of the year, is often associated with plunging temperatures and icy weather. However,
its impact and timing changes according to location. The farther an area lies from the equator; the colder
temperatures it experiences. Math problems in this challenge involve the winter season. Enjoy and don’t forget to
ask parents or siblings for help if you get stuck.
Kinder & First Grade: solve at least 3 problems.
Second & Third Grade: solve at least 6 problems.
Fourth Grade and above: solve at least 12 problems.
Problems
1. Josephine cut out 5 paper snowflakes. She wanted to decorate her room with 14 paper
snowflakes. How many more snowflakes did she have to cut?
Answer
9
2.
Three inches of snow fell on Monday. Five inches of snow fell on Tuesday. Two more
inches of snow fell on Wednesday than on Monday. How much snow fell during these
three days?
13
3.
Jeremy and Nora were playing out in the snow. They thought it would be fun to throw
snowballs at the boys next door. They threw a lot of them before the boys figured out
where they were coming from. Jeremy threw seven more snowballs than Nora. Nora
threw nine snowballs. How many snowballs did Jeremy and Nora throw altogether?
25
4.
Mrs. Holt and her sister drove to Snoqualmie Pass, which is 38 miles away. They drove 29
miles and then stopped for gas. She put 18 gallons of gas in the car. How many miles did
they have left to drive to get to the Pass?
9
5.
Last year, Buffalo, New York had 45 inches of snow in January. The year before, Buffalo
had 19 inches of snow in January. This year, the weather channel predicted that Buffalo
will have 5 inches more than last year’s and the year before combined, for the month of
January. How many inches of snow was predicted for January this year?
69
6.
Anika is handing out candy canes at school. She started her day with 50 candy canes. She
gave 19 to Mrs. Hewitt’s class and 12 to the school office. How many candy canes does
she have left?
19
7.
Today’s temperature in Seattle, Washington will be 39⁰F. Tomorrow’s high will be 7
degrees warmer than today’s. What will tomorrow’s high temperature be in Fahrenheit?
46⁰F
8.
Felicia had $6.90 to buy treats for her class winter celebration. She wanted to buy a
dozen mini cupcakes but she needed $2.70 more to buy them. How much each mini
cupcake cost? $9.60/12 = $0.80
80 cents or
$0.80
9.
The power went out during the winter storm last night. When the power was restored,
Lisa reset her digital clock to 12:00 midnight. At 9:35 a.m. on the same day, when the
digital clock showed 3:50 a.m., the actual time was 9:35 a.m. At what time was the power
restored?
5:45 a.m.
The clock showed that the power outage ended 3 hours and 50 min ago. To find out the time, subtract 3 hours and 50 min
from 9:35 am  5:45 am.
2016-2017 Math Challenge
10. There are twenty-seven students in Mrs. Hein’s class. One-third of them have red jackets.
One-ninth of them have blue jackets. How many of her students have jackets that are not
red or blue? One-third of the class: 13 𝑜𝑓 27 = 9; One-ninth of them: 19 𝑜𝑓 27 = 3. Number of students with jackets
15
that are not red or blue: 27 – 9 – 3 = 15.
11. Emma, Julia, and Nicole spent a total of $1649 for their ski trip. Emma and Julia each
spent an equal amount of money while Nicole spent $304 less than Julia. How much did
Emma and Julia each spend for the ski-trip?
$651
Draw the diagram. E = J, J + J + (J - $304) = $1649  3J = $1649 + $304  1J = $1953/3 = $651.
12. There was frost on my window when I got up this morning. The weatherman on television 26 degrees
said it was negative four degrees Celsius outside. It is warmer inside. The thermometer
says it is twenty-two degrees Celsius inside. How many degrees colder is it outside?
13. Capital City is preparing for their annual winter festival. They plan to decorate their park
with 159 strings of lights and each string of lights has 25 bulbs. It is expected to take 15
hours to decorate over the course of the week. How many lights are going to be hung
each hour? Number of total light bulbs: 159 x 25 = 3975. Number of lights hung each hour: 3975/15 = 265.
265
14. Ron set his digital timer to count down from 5 minutes (5:00) to 0:00 one second at a
time before the year turned to 2017. For how many seconds did at least one of the three
digits show a 2?
120
Count in organized way.
4:59 to 4:00  4:29 through 4:20; also 4:52, 4:42, 4:32, 4:12, 4:02  15 times.
3:59 to 3:00  3:29 through 3:20; also 3, 52, 3:42, 3:32, 3:12, 3:02  15 times
2:59 to 2:00  2:29 through 2:00  60 times
1:59 to 1:00  1:29 through 1:20; also 1:52, 1:42, 1:32, 1:12, 1:02  15 times
0:59 to 0:00  0:29 through 0:20; also 0:52, 0:42, 0:32, 0:12, 0:02  15 times
Number 2 shows up 120 times
15. One hundred students were asked their opinion on three activities during winter. 65 said
they like downhill skiing/snowboarding, 75 said they liked sledding, and 85 said they like
building snowmen. What is the fewest number of students that could have said they like
all three activities?
25
Draw a Venn Diagram. Suppose that those who said they liked downhill skiing/snowboarding and those who said they liked
sledding were all different students. That would require 65 + 75 = 140 students. There are only 100 students in the survey,
therefore, 40 or more said they liked both downhill skiing/snowboarding and sledding. Since at least 40 students liked both
downhill skiing/snowboarding, 85 +40 or 125 students would like all three activities. Since there are only 100 were
surveyed, 25 students or more must have said they liked all three activities.
16. Henry spent $750 of his monthly salary on a snowboarding trip and 3/5 of the remainder
on a Go Pro camera. He is now left with ¼ of his monthly salary. How much did he earn in
a month?
$2000
Draw the model. Snowboarding trip and camera: ¾ of his salary. 3 units (trip)  $750. 1 unit  $250.
His monthly salary: 8 units = $8 x $250 = $2000
17. Glenda wanted to buy her first snowboarding equipment. If the snowboarding
equipment she wanted was sold at a discount of 15%, she would need $80 more than she
had. If the equipment was sold at a discount of 20%, she would have $120 left.
How much money did Glenda have?
$3320
Since the 5% difference worth $200, 100% (of the original price) would be: $4000. 80% of $4000 + 120 = $3320
or 85% x $4000 – 80 = $3320.
18. A local artist made snowflake shapes out of wires. She cut a wire into two pieces. The
longer piece is 147 cm longer than three times the shorter piece. The length of the
shorter piece is 2/11 of the total length of wire. What is the length of the longer piece?
441 cm
Draw the bar model out of 11 units. Shorter wire: 2 units. Longer wire: 9 units, and 147 cm represents 3 units.
Therefore, 1 unit: 147/3 = 49. 9 units: 9 x 49 = 441.The length of the longer wire is 441 cm.
2016-2017 Math Challenge