The game provides a good opportunity to practice this small slice of mathematics, but if you don't know how to solve word problems, the game will not help you learn. There is a help button that will walk you through a single equation that provides a correct answer but does not explain how to get that equation. Nor does the game explain the rules about order of operations in calculations, but they are necessary at levels two and three if you are trying to solve a problem in a single equation. There is an opportunity to engage in some good math in assembling the clues in levels two and three that is described below. A calculator is available to help solve the problems.
Players can type in their answers, or they can type in equations that the calculator solves.
In fact in order to find the required minimum of eight clues needed to complete the game, it is necessary to solve at least two variations of one problem. When you solve a problem, you receive a clue about the number of jellybeans and record it in your notebook. The complexity of the clues varies with the level of the game. The game has a Solution Tester to help you assemble the clues and determine the number of jellybeans. As you check off a clue in your note pad, all the numbers that are ruled out by that clue are eliminated from the number line.