This sort of question gets students thinking about some key skills - times tables and place value. This is when you might hear us say something like “if you know 3x4, you know 3x40” - knowing your times tables facts and being able to multiply and divide numbers quickly by 10, 100 and 1000 makes questions that initially look daunting a doddle to solve!
They also have many applications in day to day life, such as working out total costs, scaling up measurements for recipes… the list goes on!
Here are some examples from our Facebook page:
Andrew: "I read water meters and have to covert cubic meters into litres, by mulitplying by 1000, several times a day."
Karen: "Working out how much money off I am getting in a sale! I like to be able to do it by working out 10% and then working out the discount from there. It helps to know how to move the decimal point when doing this too!"
Katy: "Ticket prices for multiple family members."
Cath: "I run art workshops in schools and it helps me work out how much kit I need to ensure everyone has what they need. Also if I'm cutting up big sheets of paper it helps me to work out if I've got enough. I'm not afraid to use my fingers."
Kathryn: "Concentrations of contaminants in groundwater and soil has been my main use of this skill."
Anna: "I work out my daily swimming times and distances over a week, and I like to know what multiples of numbers I'm up to while knitting toys."
Dodie: "I use times tables and division to work out recipes especially if I want to double up ingredients or divide ingredients to make smaller portions or cakes."
Can you think of a time when you might use these skills? Let us know in the comments.
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