Year Five/Six News 

Money & Financial Maths

This week in maths, we have been looking at making simple financial plans using resources like Coles Online. Students have had the opportunity to plan a healthy meal for a family of 4 and linking what they are learning in school to real-life situations.

We have also been looking at mental and written strategies for finding percentage discounts of items.

Strategy 1- Using what we know about 10% and doubling to help us

What is 10% of $100? =$10

What is 10% of $30? =$3

So…

What is 20% of $30? = 3 x 2 = $6

What is 30% of $30? = 3 x 3 = $9

Strategy 2- Using what we know about fractions

1/2 = 50% (halving)                1/4 = 25%  (halving then halving again)         

What is 50% off $100? =$50 (halving)

What is 25% off $100? =$25 (halving then halving again)

What is 50% off $50? = $25 (halving)

What is 25% off $50? = $17.50 (halving then halving again)

Strategy 3- Using what we know about multiplication

Because 20% is equivalent to 0.20, we can multiply 0.20 by the cost of a product to find the discount!

For example, let’s try figuring out 20% of $456.20   = 0.20 x $456.20

Students can then use their preferred multiplication strategy to find the discount- lattice, box method or vertical multiplication.