MATHS

MATHEMATICS IN A CLASSROOM AND ITS CONNECTION TO REAL LIFE

The Year 11 General Mathematics students had worked on the area of study that covers investigating sequences that can be generated by a recurrence relation and a rule. 

These ideas have many applications to financial mathematics. Students used their skills and knowledge to model:

• Compound interest investments and loans,
• reducing balance depreciation of an asset over time, including the rule for the future value of the asset after "n" depreciation periods and
• compound interest investments and debts.  

Students learnt how investment and borrowing services such as loans, mortgages and investments which are offered by financial institutions. Students were also given an opportunity to explore and familiarise themselves with a new function within the CAS calculator that provides students the ability to connect technology with mathematical concepts. 

This coursework included different forms of relationships and formulae and their application in relation to the analysis of and critical reflection on, personal and local financial matters.

At the end of this area of study, students were given different scenarios that summarised what they had learnt in class. Scenarios included calculating the monthly repayments a person has to make, finding the total cost of repaying the loan and how much the person still owed at the end of a given period of time.

Svetlana Beliavski

Maths and Physics Teacher

STUDENTS REFLECTION 

In this topic, we looked at the main concepts of sequence and finance mathematics among them being the intricacies of interest compounded and annuities. While doing the solutions I don’t just learn problem-solving, but I see these principles in action: how they work in practice. All this knowledge will remain with me for some time allowing for better choices when it comes to my finances be it through managing my funds or getting a job where this kind of training is necessary.

Adit Potdukhe, Year 11

The Finance maths unit that we completed in Units 1/2 General Maths is in my opinion, one of the more practically useful units we learnt in Maths throughout the whole of school. The unit was genuinely one that I enjoyed because it was concepts that could be used often in life rather than in one-off situations.

Joshua Aby Peediakal, Year 11

I found it challenging yet rewarding to apply mathematical concepts to real-world scenarios like budgeting, interest rates, and investments. This topic enhanced my understanding of financial principles and their impact on everyday life, boosting both my math skills and financial literacy.

Amy Morris, Year 11