Calculations Involving Money
Money calculations involve working with pounds (£) and pence accurately. In the UK, £1 is equal to 100 pence. It is important to line up decimal points correctly and use appropriate rounding where needed.
When adding or subtracting amounts of money, always make sure the decimal points are aligned. This helps prevent place value errors.
For example, adding two amounts:
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£12.45 + £3.70 = £16.15
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When subtracting:
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£20.00 - £7.85 = £12.15
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When multiplying money, it is often helpful to ignore the decimal point at first, then put it back in the correct place at the end.
For example, the cost of \( 4 \) items at £2.35 each is:
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2.35 \times 4 = 9.40
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So the total cost is £9.40.
Division is used when sharing money or finding the cost per item. For example, sharing £18 equally between \( 3 \) people:
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18 \div 3 = 6
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Each person receives £6.00.
When working with money, answers should usually be given to two decimal places, because pence are the smallest unit normally used. Always check that your final answer makes sense in the context of the problem, especially when calculating change or total costs.