Problem 447 - Prealgebra

Question

Patients LaVonne treats 12 patients each day in her dental office. Last week she worked 4 days. How many patients did she treat last week?

Step-by-Step Solution

Answer

LaVonne treated 48 patients last week.

Step 1 - Identify the daily number of patients

LaVonne treats 12 patients each day. This means that in one day, she treats 12 patients.

Step 2 - Determine the number of workdays

Last week, LaVonne worked for 4 days. So, it's given that she worked 4 days in a week.

Step 3 - Multiply the daily number of patients by the number of workdays

To find the total number of patients LaVonne treated last week, multiply the number of patients treated per day by the number of days she worked: \[ 12 \text{ patients/day} \times 4 \text{ days} = 48 \text{ patients} \]

Key Concepts

Understanding Daily Patients

To solve multiplication word problems, it's crucial to start by understanding the key pieces of information given in the problem. In this case, we know that LaVonne treats 12 patients each day at her dental office. This figure, known as the 'daily patients', represents the number of patients she can see or treat in a single day. Imagine counting the patients one by one; if you reach 12, you’ve got the correct count for a day.
Breaking down tasks like this into daily amounts makes it easier to manage and work with numbers. It provides a base from which we can build upon as we look at longer periods, such as a week.

Calculating the Number of Workdays

Next, it's important to look at the 'number of workdays'. This is the time period over which we will extend our daily patient count. From the problem, we know that LaVonne worked 4 days last week.
Keeping track of the number of workdays helps us understand how to multiply effectively. More workdays mean more patients treated because every workday LaVonne is treating patients.

Total Patients Calculation

Now, we need to calculate the total number of patients LaVonne treated last week by multiplying the daily number of patients by the number of workdays.
We start with 12 patients each day and multiply by 4 days:
\[\begin{equation} 12 \text{ patients/day} \times 4 \text{ days} = 48 \text{ patients} \end{equation}\]
This multiplication gives the total number of patients treated within the specified timeframe. In this scenario, LaVonne treated 48 patients in 4 days.
By multiplying two numbers—one representing the daily count and the other representing the number of days—we can easily find the total value. Breaking problems into these smaller, manageable steps helps simplify and effectively answers word problems involving multiplication.