Read and complete tables

Find where the row and column meet

Follow the row and column. Where do they meet?

This table counts club visits, not different pupils. Follow the Drama row to the Afternoon column: 3 visits.

Club	Morning visits	Afternoon visits
Chess	4	7
Gardening	6	7
Drama	5	3

Gardening visits in the morning

Chess visits across both sessions

Which clubs have the greatest afternoon count?

Chess onlyChess and GardeningDrama only

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6 Gardening visits in the morning. 4 + 7 = 11 Chess visits altogether. Chess and Gardening tie at 7 afternoon visits. These are visits; the table does not tell us the number of different pupils.

Which parts do you know, and which part is missing?

Count each part once

Thirty seeds are planted. Each seed belongs to one of these three groups.

Seed	Number planted
Bean	12
Pea	?
Sunflower	9
Total	30

Bean and Sunflower account for 12 + 9 = 21 seeds. The remaining part is Pea: 30 − 21 = 9 seeds.

Check by putting the parts back together: 12 + 9 + 9 = 30. A question mark means not yet known, rather than zero.

Each filled paint pot has one colour. Find the missing count.

Colour	Filled pots
Red	9
Blue	?
Yellow	7
Total	24

Filled blue pots

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Red and Yellow account for 9 + 7 = 16 pots. Blue accounts for 24 − 16 = 8 pots. The check is 9 + 8 + 7 = 24, counting every pot once.

Does your missing number fit both the row and column?

Each seedling belongs to one team and has one flower colour. Start with a row or column that has just one missing part.

Team	Red	White	Total
North	5	?	17
South	?	9	?
Total	18	21	?

North team's white-flowered seedlings

South team's red-flowered seedlings

South team's row total

Seedlings altogether, counting each once

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North’s white count: 17 − 5 = 12. Check 12 + 9 = 21 down the White column. South’s red count: 18 − 5 = 13. South’s row total is 13 + 9 = 22.

The whole is 17 + 22 = 39 seedlings, also 18 + 21 = 39. Adding the row totals and column totals would give 78, counting every seedling twice.

Do you have enough information to find just one answer?

Day	Books returned
Monday	9
Tuesday	?
Total	?

What can we say about Tuesday?

We need another count or a totalTuesday must be zeroTuesday must also be nine

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We need more information. Tuesday could be 3 or 8, for example. Both agree with Monday’s 9 when the total is unknown. Use totals to complete a table only when those totals are actually given or can be found from other entries.

For a grown-up

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Syllabus and review details

Primary 5 Foundation Mathematics 2025 · 2021-updated-2025-10

Last reviewed: 2026-11-07

Reading settings

Find where the row and column meet

Use the row and column together

Count each part once

Complete a new table

Make every total agree

Must every blank have a known answer?

Lesson done