Teachers

MATHEMATICS STORY TELLING

BAMIDELE, KAYODE · 16 September 2026

I once wanted to teach simultaneous equations but somehow, two students buying snacks at the school canteen became my mathematics problem.

I was teaching the class and I wanted them to understand that simultaneous equations are not just about seeing two equations sitting beside each other and immediately becoming confused.

So I created a simple story.

Imagine two friends went to the school canteen during break.

Let's call them David and John.

David bought 2 meat pies and 1 bottle of soft drink.

John bought 1 meat pie and 2 bottles of soft drink.

They both paid different amounts but there was one problem.

Neither of them checked the individual prices before buying, they only knew the total amount they paid.

Now I asked the class, If you were given their total amounts, could you work out the price of one meat pie and one bottle of soft drink?

The class became interested because apparently, mathematics becomes more interesting when food enters the conversation.

I showed them how to solve it step by step.

Let the price of one meat pie be x.

Let the price of one bottle of soft drink be y.

Then their purchases can be represented with equations.

2x + y = the amount David paid.

x + 2y = the amount John paid.

Now we have two unknowns and that is where simultaneous equations enter the conversation.

We are trying to find the values of x and y that make both equations true at the same time.

I could have simply written two equations on the board and started eliminating variables but I wanted them to see the reason behind the equations.

The letters x and y are not just letters making life difficult for students, they represent things you don't know yet.

The equations are simply mathematical ways of describing what happened at the canteen.

That's how the class started looking at simultaneous equations differently.

Sometimes, you start with an ordinary story and before you know it, you have turned a school canteen into an algebra classroom, that is one of the things I enjoy about mathematics.

Next time you buy two different things and know only the total amount you spent, remember you may have just walked into simultaneous equations.

Understand the method.

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