Education Endowment Foundation:EEF Blog: How good is your everyday maths?

EEF Blog: How good is your everyday maths?

quiz maths in context test your maths skills GCSE
Author
EEF
EEF
Blog •2 minutes •

The maths skills we learn at school can be called upon in the most unexpected of situations. From dividing up a restaurant bill and working out the reduction on a sale item to calculating your possible Grand National winnings on the horse that’s 3/11.

But research shows that many pupils struggle to translate their maths lessons to real-life’ contexts.

Today we’ve announced funding for six new randomised controlled trials, one of which will evaluate Young Enterprise’s Maths in Context, a programme that focuses on how maths can be used at a personal level, from budgeting for a holiday or calculating a gas bill. It is hoped that the pupils taking part will find it more engaging and relevant to real life, as well developing essential financial literacy skills.

130 English schools and 10,000 pupils will take part in the trial; schools interested in signing-up can go here.

To help you hone your everyday maths skills, we’ve put together a quick quiz of GCSE-level questions that might be used in a Maths in Context lesson.

Answers are at the bottom (no cheating and no calculators!).

Question 1

The normal price of a television is reduced by 30% in a sale.

The sale price of the television is £350

Work out the normal price of the television.

Question 2

Here are the ticket prices for entry to a museum.

Ticket prices Adult ticket £12 Child ticket £7 Senior ticket £8 Family ticket (2 adult tickets and 2 child tickets) £30

Shamus takes his family to the museum. He gets tickets for

2 adults, 3 children, 1 senior.

Shamus pays the least possible amount of money for the tickets. He pays with three £20 notes.

How much change should he get?

Question 3

A pack of 9 toilet rolls costs £4.23 A pack of 4 toilet rolls costs £1.96

Which pack gives the better value for money? 

Question 4

Greg sells car insurance and home insurance.

The table shows the cost of these insurances.

Insurance car insurance home insurance Cost £200 £350

Each month Greg earns £530 basic pay, 5% of the cost of all the car insurance he sells and 10% of the cost of all the home insurance he sells

In May Greg sold 6 car insurances and 4 home insurances

Work out the total amount of money Greg earned in May.

Question 5

Railtickets and Cheaptrains are two websites selling train tickets.

Each of the websites adds a credit card charge and a booking fee to the ticket price.

Nadia wants to buy a train ticket. The ticket price is £60 on each website. Nadia will pay by credit card.

Will it be cheaper for Nadia to buy the train ticket from Railtickets or from Cheaptrains?

ANSWERS

1. £500

2. £15

3. Pack of 9

4. £730

5. Railtickets