Help With Maths

[princerupe74]

if i buy 150,000 pens for £2,850, how much is each pen costing me?

[yogasun]

Just under 2p? I'm rubbish at maths, where's factor?

[emeritus]

1.9 p

[albaqwerty]

I get 0.019

[emeritus]

2850 divided by 150000 multiplied by 100

[Gizmonster]

.... same as above.
The 0.019 is also correct, but this is how many punds they cost each, so multiplying this by 100 gives the answer in pence, which gives 1.9p each.

[FredPuli43]

Or 285,000 pence (£2,850) divided by 150,000, which is 285 divided by 150 ,the result being in pence. That's 1.9 pence, isn't it?

[BRIGHT SPARK]

....why do you need so many pens?

[Old_Geezer]

I'm so glad an answer site is able to provide the answers.

https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=calculatorhttps://www.google.co.uk/search?q=calculator

[SeaJayPea]

Now this is probably a generation thing here, but I can do that in my head. I can't be alone in that, surely?

[factor-fiction]

If you don't have a calculator do a quick mental estimate first. Divide 285,000p by 150,000. That's roughly 300,000p divided by 150000. So answer will be a little under 2p.
Mentally it's probably easier to double the 285 to 570 and then divide by 3 to give 190 and then work out where the decimal point should go bearing in mind that the answer is just under 2p. So 1.9p

[echokilo]

The answer is A CALCULATOR surely??? If you are asking this question on a smart phone or PC/Laptop these devices also have calculators built in (or as an app) ...... Or was the question that you didn't know what sum you needed to actually do? in which case you need to share or divide the cost by the number of items.

[factor-fiction]

Many on here would be amazed at how little idea some students have of which functions to use on a calculator. I'm often asked 'do I multiply or divide?'. I asked a student how much change she would get from £5 if she bought a sandwich for £1.20. She got out her calculator, multiplied 5 x £1.20 and said £6. She was adamant she was right

[New Judge]

Very true, factor.

We see questions on here headed "maths" when in fact they are usually matters of simple (often mental) arithmetic. There is, as you say, the issue of "do I multiply or divide?" or "which number do I divide by?". Decimal places and confusion when pence and pounds are mixed seem very common. It seems that people are not taught to think.Very often a simple rough calculation will provide a "ball park" figure. In this particular example I would do something like "If they cost me £3,000 that would mean I'd get 150,000 pens for £3k, so 150 would cost me 300 pence, so they are about two pence each. In most cases that estimate would probably be sufficient, but as has been demonstrated there are various ways to calculate the exact cost.

I'm not having a go at princerupe. My dismay is directed towards an education system that, after a minimum of eleven years (soon to be thirteen) of basic education churns out people who need help with the most simple tasks.

Sorry, princerupe, your question has been somewhat hijacked but I'd be very interested to learn if you have been taught how to tackle questions such as this.

[woolleysheep]

now resell for 4p and double your money

[DTCwordfan]

minus the tax that will accrue from the trade....

[Zacs-Master]

Minus delivery costs to you and distribution costs to customers.

[lady-janine]

10p each and you are in profit. you've paid your delivery costs, paid your tax, and have some left for your next investment. don't know what you are going to live on though.