For a certain region, the table shows the average number of store employees in 2016 by type of store. Based...

1. TRANSLATE the problem information

• Given information:
  • Table showing average employees by store type
  • Warehouse stores: 365 employees
  • Department stores: 213 employees
  • Supermarkets: 130 employees

• What we need: How much greater warehouse stores than supermarkets

2. TRANSLATE the question language

• "How much greater A than B" means: \(\mathrm{A - B}\)
• So we need: Warehouse stores - Supermarkets
• This gives us: \(\mathrm{365 - 130}\)

3. Calculate the difference

\(\mathrm{365 - 130 = 235}\)

Answer: C. 235

Why Students Usually Falter on This Problem

Most Common Error Path:

Weak TRANSLATE skill: Students misinterpret "how much greater" and think it means addition rather than subtraction.

Instead of finding the difference between warehouse stores and supermarkets, they add the values together: \(\mathrm{365 + 130 = 495}\). This may lead them to select Choice D (495).

Second Most Common Error:

Poor TRANSLATE reasoning: Students correctly understand they need subtraction, but they misread the table or mix up which store types to compare.

They might compare department stores to supermarkets (\(\mathrm{213 - 130 = 83}\)) or warehouse stores to department stores (\(\mathrm{365 - 213 = 152}\)). This may lead them to select Choice A (83) or Choice B (152).

The Bottom Line:

This problem tests whether students can accurately translate comparison language into mathematical operations and carefully read data from tables. The arithmetic is simple, but the language interpretation is crucial.