Urgent - how to do this simple maths question (%)

[meandmycrew]

I thought you'd find 1% and then times that by 7 to find your 7%.

Once you found your 7%, add it to the £14.50.

BUT, I can't find 1% of £14.50... it's 0.145p

10% of £14.50 is £1.45 but that's no good either as I can't half it for 5% as the question wants 7%!

Thanks so much

1% of £14.50 isn’t 0.145p its £0.145 ie 14.5 p
x 7 = 101.5p = £1.015

• £14.50 = £15.515 which rounds up to £15.52 (5 and higher always rounds up whilst 1-4 round down)

If you imagine the ratio question as a cake...

You know you have 5 slices in total (3 for Adams Dad, 2 for Adam).

You know that 3 slices (Adam's Dads share) cost £52.20.

In this case you want to work out the cost of the whole cake.

If 3 slices cost £52.20 then 1 slice is £17.40 (52.20÷3)

So the whole cake is 5 times that (5 x 17.40) which is £87

If you wanted to work out Adams share you would work out the cost of one slice as above and then times it by 2 as he got two slices.

Any ratio is just a way of slicing up cake / sharing things out.

(I prefer maths that involves baked goods, makes it make more sense to me)

If you're studying Maths you're meant to show your workings - at far more complicated levels in exams, there may be more marks for method than for the final answer.

Although my kids' Maths homework has long been beyond me - DS1 is now studying Maths, Further Maths and Physics (which apparently has a lot of Maths in it) - it's extraordinary to think of how much I've forgotten in middle age.

For ratios just visualise it as bowls laid out in a line. So for a 2:3 or 3:2 ratio you have 5 bowls with butter / flour / money in them, each holding an identical amount.

Is anyone else now thinking more about cakes than the questions?

14.50 x 0.07 = 1.015

14.50 + 1.02 = £15.52.