[semaj]

I've seen a few examples of the word problems and IMHO they are deliberately designed to frustrate and turn the student off from developing practical mathematical skills.

[Dasaji]

"I've seen a few examples of the word problems and IMHO they are deliberately designed to frustrate and turn the student off from developing practical mathematical skills."

My kids have had these and immediately a nastygram gets sent to the teacher for sending this gibberish home. I'm not a rocket scientist, but one 4th grade problem last year had me hitting a teachers' chat room, graciously asking for help that even THEY could not "easily" solve the problem. Finally a 6th grade math teacher did, and could not believe it was assigned to my 4th grader. It was a complex algebraic equation that had to be set up from a fuzzy "word problem."