The first thing to do when solving a word problem in mathematics is to figure out what exactly the problem is asking. We must figure out what information is given and what is not. What are the constants that never change and what are the variables? One of the secrets to setting up the problem is to know how specific words are used in the language of math. For instance, the word “is” means “equals,” and when you see the word “is,” you know you can set up an equation in which the parts equal each other. That’s very helpful to know!
