Can anyone help with this Y6 maths question?

[AlwaysOneSock]

DD is Y6. I’m a bit maths blind. Can someone help me work out how to do this?

‘James has gone shopping with his birthday money. He spends 3/8 of it and gives half of what is left to his mum for safekeeping. He keeps the £15 that is left. How much birthday money did he have at the start?’

If someone could talk me through the method so I can share it with DD that would be most helpful. Thanks
She also has similar questions with % and they’re asking her to work out how much money at start. So washing machine £x with 20% off. How much was full price. Thanks

Also a carpet 12m squared covers 60% of the floor. If the room is 5m in length, what is the width? (I am clearly thick )

With that one, I would say he has half of what was left :£15 and his mum has the other half of what is left, so double the £15 is £30. So £30 is what he had left after spending 3/8 of his money, so £30 is 5/8 of his money. Divide 30 by 5 to get 1/8 of the total - £6, then multiply that by 8 to get the full amount - £48.

You need to work out what fraction £15 represents ie. 1-3/8 then work out what 1/8 is and then what the full amount would be ie. 8/8

So 15 is half of what he had before he gave any to his mum. That means he had 30 before giving to his mum.

That 30 was 5/8 of what he started with (because he had spent 3/8 of it) , so 1/8 of what he started with is 30 divided by 5 which is 6.

So 8/8 of what he started with, I. E. All of it, is 8 x 6 which is 48. He started with 48.

This is how I would do it.

1. James has kept £15.
2. James gave half of the remaining money after shopping to his mum and kept half. As we know James has £15, then his mum also has £15.
3. James spent 3/8 of the money, so 5/8 is remaining.
4. From facts 1) and 2), we know there is £30 remaining
5. Therefore 5/8 of the total money is £30
6. 1/8 of the total money is £30 divided by 5 = £6
7. The total money, or 8/8, is £6 multiplied by 8 = £48.

Hopefully someone can verify me?

The first question you need to start with the fractions.

James has spent 3/8 of his money and given another half of it to his mum. Your DD needs to convert 1/2 so that it is in eigths. Can she do this ? Then she needs to work out how many eights James has left

If 12m2 is 60%, work out what 10% is then x 10. To find the other length use the total area divided by the known length 5m.

Pickle - I really understood your explanation until step 6, where did you get the 5 from? sorry OP but also struggle with Maths so find this interesting.

Yes, great. Thank you for the first question. I get that now.
What about the carpet?

Ah right, LIZS, so it’s 240? Ie 240 is 100%

So if 5 in length does that mean 48 in width??? to make total area 240?

Sorry meant to add thank you to everyone for your help and quick responses.

Valerion - 5/8 = £30 so 1/8 is £30/5.

I have a daughter in Year 6 too and she's also struggling with the maths. I do think it's a lot harder than it was when I was in 4th year juniors (many years ago).

Anyway, this is how I'd explain it to my DD:

James spends 3/8 of his birthday money. Therefore he has 5/8 left over.

He gives half of this to his mum. However you can't really halve 5/8 so convert to a fraction that you can halve, eg 10/16 (5/8=10/16). He gives his mum half which is 5/16.
He is 5/16 left which is £15.

Now you need to find 1/16, so you can work out the total.
If 5/16=£15, 1/5 of £15=£3. So 1/16=£3
3 x 16 = 48

HTH.

30 = 5/8

1/8 = 6

8/8 = 48

He started with £48

If 12m squared is 60% of the floor,then the while floor is 20m squared. If one side is 5, the other will be 20/5=4.

Thanks all, I get the first one now and can see how it’s £48.
Any help with the carpet one?

For the carpet:
If 12sqm is 60%. Divide 12 by 60 and multiply by 100 to get 100% (the area of the room).
So, 12/6 = 2, 2x10=20 (you can do 6 and 10 instead of 60 & 100).

If area of room is 20 sqm and width is 5m then length is 4m.

Area = length x width.
20 = 5 x width
Width = 4m

I could be wrong, but... 60% of the carpet =12 square metres, so 60÷100x =12, so X= 20. The carpet is 20metres square, so if the length is 5m, the width is 4 metres.

If he gives half of what’s left to mum- what’s left is 5/8, 1/2 of that is 5x1 /8x2= 5/16
15£ is left so that is the 5/8 less mums 5/16 ie10-5/16= 5/16
5/16 is 15, so 1/16 is 3, so 16/16 ie the whole amount 3x16= 48

TheMogget, thanks that makes sense.

Nicola, nope, I can see you know what you’re talking about but when you say so, x=20, I’m lost. Is there a teaching step missing in your explanation?

Thanks, Pinkie, got that one now!

Rebel, my problem is how to get from one to the other? You say, if 12 is 60% then the whole thing is 20. But how??? As in how do you work it out?

I can get from the 20 to the 4 as I get that a=lxb
But how to get to the 20? Although I think Mogget has explained.

Does yr dd do bar modelling in school? If you draw a rectangle and cut into 8s, shade 3 of those 8s off, you know he had £30 after shopping, you have 5/8 left (which is £30), 5x6 is 30, add on 3 more 6s, totals 48. Xx