Grade
4

Mobile Math: What's Missing?

Look at the mobile below. What do you notice? What do you wonder?

Find the missing values so that the mobile is balanced.

A balanced mobile with a value of 36 has 2 strings. The left string has 1 orange triangle. The right string has 3 red squares and 1 green circle. The value of the circle is 9.

If the value of the circle became 12, how could you change the value of the other shapes so that the mobile was still balanced?

A balanced mobile with a value of 36 has 2 strings. The left string has 1 orange triangle. The right string has 3 red squares and 1 green circle. The value of the circle is 12.

If the total value of the mobile was changed to 48, how could you change the values of the shapes so that the mobile remained balanced?

A balanced mobile with a value of 48 has 2 strings. The left string has 1 orange triangle. The right string has 3 red squares and 1 green circle. The shape values are unknown.
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Reference for Educators

Sample problems and solutions