7 days make a week. How many weeks are there in 42 days? And there are 7 days in a week. How many days are there in 24 weeks? What’s different in both questions? How do I understand if I have to do division or multiplication? I’m totally confused. Please tell me in a simple way. My son is very confused to understand division and multiplication questions.
The Correct Answer and Explanation is:
🔢 Question 1
“7 days make a week. How many weeks are there in 42 days?”
To find how many weeks are in 42 days, you’re breaking 42 into groups of 7. That means:
👉 42 ÷ 7 = 6 weeks ✅
🔢 Question 2
“There are 7 days in a week. How many days are there in 24 weeks?”
This time, you want to know the total number of days in 24 weeks. So you’re putting 24 groups of 7 together. That means:
👉 24 × 7 = 168 days ✅
🧠 What’s the difference? How do you know when to divide or multiply?
Here’s a simple tip you can teach your son:
- If you are breaking a big number into smaller groups, like “how many weeks in 42 days?” ➡️ Use division.
- If you are putting smaller groups together to find a bigger total, like “how many days in 24 weeks?” ➡️ Use multiplication.
✅ Easy trick to remember:
| Ask Yourself… | Then Use… |
|---|---|
| “How many groups can I make?” | ➡️ Division |
| “How many items in total from groups?” | ➡️ Multiplication |
💬 Explanation (300 words):
Children often confuse when to multiply or divide because both operations deal with groups. Here’s a helpful way to explain:
Imagine you have 42 chocolates, and each week you eat 7 chocolates. You want to know how many weeks that chocolate will last. Since you’re splitting 42 chocolates into groups of 7, you divide:
42 ÷ 7 = 6 weeks.
Now imagine something different. You know you eat 7 chocolates each week, and you want to find out how many chocolates you will eat in 24 weeks. That means you’re adding up 24 groups of 7. You multiply:
24 × 7 = 168 chocolates.
So:
- Use division when you’re finding how many times something fits into a bigger number (breaking into groups).
- Use multiplication when you’re finding a total amount from several groups (building up).
Try acting it out with toys, snacks, or blocks — group them into sets to see what’s happening. That makes learning fun and clear!
